Bangui mourns victims of October uprising

A coalition of 12 opposition parties in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Concertation des partis politiques d'opposition (CPPO), organised a mourning day on Tuesday as a sign of solidarity with the victims of the October uprising. "We congratulate Bangui's population, who understood the reason of our call and observed the mourning day," Enoch Dérant Lakoué, the chairman of opposition Parti social-democrate and a leading figure of the CPPO, told IRIN. Despite a "business-as-usual" message sent out by Minister of Transport André Toby Kotazo on state-owned Radio Centrafrique on Tuesday morning, only a few cars were visible on Bangui's streets as schools, hospitals, banks, markets, shops and administrative buildings remained closed all day. At a meeting in Bangui, President Ange-Felix Patasse condemned the opposition's initiative to paralyse the capital. Lakoue said the purpose of the mourning day was to demand the immediate withdrawal from CAR of Libyan troops and combatants from the rebel the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC), based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. MLC combatants have been blamed for widespread rape, looting and other acts of violence, while Libyan troops have been accused of indiscriminately shelling densely populated suburbs during the uprising. Libyan troops have been present in CAR since the attempted coup attempt of May 2001, to protect Patasse. Prior to the mourning day, a number of demonstrations took place in Bangui's suburbs, all protesting against the presence of MLC troops in the capital. The government has blamed all these on agitators. The CPPO was created after the 25 October events, when an alliance of eight opposition parties (the Groupe des partis d'opposition) was joined by four others under the chairmanship of Prof Abel Goumba, the leader of the Front patriotique pour le progres. Analysts said the mourning day was a test which allowed the opposition within the CAR to assess its power.