Central African Republic: Lack of Money Underlies Coup

17 March 2003
allAfrica.com
By Charles Cobb Jr.

Washington, DC — Sounding somewhat puzzled, a U.S. State Department official Monday claimed to be "still looking into" the sudden coup in the Central African Republic this weekend. "There's a lot of sorting out to do. The situation is unclear," said the official.

Nonetheless, there are two key factors underlying the ouster of President Ange-Felix Patasse by his former army chief of staff, Francois Bozize:

- The recent denial of an IMF loan to help with payment of arrears to the African Development Bank that would, in turn, release money to pay civil servants and the military. The United States, while not directly opposing the loan, offered no help with the IMF to secure it.

- Pressure from the United States that led to most of the Mouvement de Liberation du Congo (MLC) rebel forces led by Jean-Pierre Bemba returning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo last year. They had entered the CAR in October 2002, ostensibly to "protect" the Patasse government. The last few remaining in CAR fled back across the Oubangui River into northwestern DRC as Bozize's forces took over the capital city.

In a January report to the Security Council, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that the suspension of assistance by the World Bank and IMF, aggravated by civil war and work stoppages threatened to cause the country to "spin out of control... It is in fact because the state has received no budgetary assistance for nearly two years and because it lacks the resources to meet its payroll that the country's workers had gone on strike after having courageously and responsibly observing a social truce for 18 months."

Despite recognition of this plight, Annan, on Monday, "forcefully" condemned the coup d'etat. "The Secretary-General calls for the speedy restoration of the constitutional order and for the respect and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the civilian population," his office said in a statement.

Interim Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union Amara Essy also said he "strongly condemns" the takeover. A statement released by the organization said that it "will meet very shortly to consider the situation and the measures to be taken."

Speaking on the radio, Bozize, who has suspended the constitution and dissolved government and parliament, said that his takeover was only a temporary break with democracy.

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