Opposition in exile, rebels call on Patasse to resign

The opposition in exile and rebels in the Central African Republic (CAR) have joined forces in calling on President Ange-Felix Patasse to resign. "We want President Patasse to understand that he can no longer rule the country," Jean-Paul Ngoupande, chairman of the opposition Parti de l’union nationale (PUN) and a former prime minister, told Radio France Internationale on Wednesday. All the members of the opposition in exile, Gen Francois Bozize - the former chief of staff, who led the October 2002 coup attempt - and supporters of former President Andre Kolingba, who attempted a coup in May 2001, signed a joint communiqué in the French capital, Paris, last week, calling for Patasse's resignation. The opposition within CAR, which was not associated with the Paris gathering, has abstained from offering its support. "All opposition parties met this afternoon and required [the reading of] the communiqué before making any comment," Paul Bellet, the spokesman of the Groupe de Paris d’opposition (GPO), an alliance of 13 opposition parties, told IRIN on Wednesday. He added, however, that he had heard that some GPO members had signed the document. The government spokesman and minister of state for communications, Gabriel Jean Edouard Koyambounou, has rejected the communique. He also accused the opposition in CAR of complicity with Bozize’s rebels by virtue of having refused to openly condemn the October coup attempt. Meanwhile the government - backed by fighters of the Mouvement de Liberation du Congo from neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo and Libyan troops – is pushing back rebel forces in the north of the country. The regional Central African Economic and Monetary Community Force (CEMAC) has also flown 110 Gabonese soldiers to Bangui and preparations are underway for a December national dialogue.