A Congolese army armoured vehicle is parked in front of a bank in central Bangui on April 3, 2013. |
N'DJAMENA,
Chad —
African
leaders said they would not recognize Central African Republic’s new
self-proclaimed leader, as the nation’s post-coup crisis came under the
spotlight at a regional summit in Chad Wednesday.
A
transitional president should be elected in place of Seleka rebel leader Michel
Djotodia, Chadian President Idriss Deby told journalists at a meeting of the
Economic Community Of Central African States (ECCAS).
“As
things stand now, it is impossible to recognize a self-proclaimed president,”
he said.
“A
committee selected by national figures must lead the transition. This body will
have the executive role and must vote for a transitional president” who would
serve for not more than 18 months, he said.
Djotodia
grabbed power on March 24 after a rapid assault on the capital Bangui in
revenge for unfulfilled promises in a January peace deal with the government.
He has
retained Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye in his post and says he will hold
elections by 2016, a promise the international community is keen for him to
keep.
Deby
said a legislative body would be created to take on the role of a parliament
and a mission of ministers from ECCAS, the African Union and the European
Union, among others, dispatched to the Central African capital Bangui on
Thursday “to take the message to Central Africans”.
Chad,
the region’s dominant military power, hosted the ECCAS meeting as a way to give
the rebel Seleka coalition regime in Central Africa a semblance of legitimacy,
according to a diplomatic source.
South
African President Jacob Zuma, who was specially invited to the talks, meanwhile
pledged to pull out his forces deployed in Bangui.
Zuma has
come under fire after the deaths of 13 of his troops in clashes with Central
African rebels.
But Zuma
was ready to provide troops again in the future, Deby told the six-nation ECCAS
bloc, which also includes Congo, Gabon, Benin and Equatorial Guinea.
Missing
from the talks was ousted Central African president Francois Bozize, who said
he had been refused a seat at the summit.
Leaders
nevertheless called on Benin’s President Thomas Boni Yayi to grant an asylum
request from Bozize, last reported to be in Cameroon, “if he asks”.
“The
ex-president Bozize is in Cameroon, we have asked Benin’s president, if
(Bozize) asks, to welcome him there as a brother,” Idriss Deby said.
Bozize,
who fled Bangui amid the rebel assault, has accused his former Chadian allies
of backing the rebels who unseated him, in an interview with BBC Africa.
Observers
have said Bozize appears to have been left in the lurch by Chad, a
once-powerful ally which helped him mount a coup in 2003, while a recent report
from the International Crisis Group mentions Chad’s “dubious relations with
Seleka”.
Some 400
Chadian soldiers formed part of a multinational African peacekeeping force
(Fomac), sent to stabilize the country in 2008.
However
it was South African soldiers stationed in the capital who came up against the
rebels on March 23-24, as they stormed the capital after the January peace deal
collapsed.
“It was
Chadian special forces that led the operation on the Sunday morning and
attacked the base of the South Africans,” Bozize told the BBC.
South
African defense analyst Helmoed Heitman backed up these claims in a detailed
account of the battle in the Sunday Independent.
“The
‘rag tag’ rebel force originally reported”... had “flak jackets, new AK47s and
heavy weapons up to 23mm cannons,” he wrote in the South African newspaper.
“It was
also clear that many were not from the CAR, some speaking with Chad accents and
others having distinctly Arabic features.”
South
Africa’s heaviest military loss since apartheid raised prickly questions for
Zuma over why his troops were sent to an area where South Africa has no
immediate strategic interests.
Zuma on
Tuesday said a contingent was sent to train local forces and provide protection
for the now deposed Bozize under a 2007 deal.
But
Central African sources close to the presidency and security sources say Zuma
and Bozize had signed accords “giving South African businesses access to oil,
diamond and gold riches”.
In
exchange, South Africa would defend Bozize’s regime.
ECCAS
will hold another summit once the international mission to Central African
Republic has completed its work, Deby said Wednesday, to continue to monitor
the situation in the unstable country.
Though
looting and clashes have petered out in the capital since the coup, reports
emerged Wednesday of pillaging by both pro-Bozize soldiers and Seleka rebels in
the west of Central African Republic, an area previously spared by the
fighting.
A senior
Seleka rebel who wished to remain anonymous said Wednesday the coalition was
deploying troops to the region.
Seleka
rebels themselves are now being disarmed, a source close to Tiangaye said.
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