Gabonese President Omar Bongo has condemned the attempt to oust the ”legitimate authorities” in the Central African Republic (CAR) after fighting broke out there last week, the state-run L’Union newspaper reported on Monday.
Gabon rejects ”any action that aims to accede to power by unconstitutional means, and condemns the show of force perpetrated in Bangui against the legitimate authorities,” said a statement issued by Bongo’s office published in L’Union.
Fighting broke out between CAR government forces and insurgents in the capital Bangui on Friday. Former army chief of staff Francois Bozize, sacked last year in a major shake-up of the armed forces, said his backers were behind the unrest, aimed at unseating CAR President Ange Felix Patasse.
The Gabonese statement recalled that ”following the October 2, 2002 Libreville accord, an African multinational observer and security force of between 300 and 350 men was set up and will become operational in the coming days.”
The Libreville accord, brokered by Central African Economic and Monetary Community (Cemac), was drawn up to try to defuse long-standing tensions in CAR, rocked by a series of coups and unrest since May 2001.
The accord provided for a multinational force to be deployed a month after the signing of the agreement. But military chiefs from Cemac member states and Mali said at a meeting last week that it would be impossible to deploy the observer force by the agreed deadline, mainly because of unresolved financial problems.
The statement by Bongo’s office reiterated Gabon’s attachment to ”maintaining peace, stability, security and democracy in the Central African Republic and the sub-region.”
It called for ”the international community and, in particular, allies of the Central African Republic to support the creation of the force” set up at the Cemac-brokered talks. After a lull overnight on Sunday, the fighting resumed in Bangui on Monday, when an AFP correspondent reporting hearing heavy weapons fire coming from the vicinity of the presidential palace and aimed at northern sectors of the capital where the rebels were holed up.
Six central African countries are members of Cemac: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo. – Sapa-AFP