Bozize attends CEMAC summit

Central African Republic leader Francois Bozize was on Tuesday in Libreville, the capital of Gabon, to attend a summit of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC), government-controlled Radio Centrafrique reported.

This marks the first time Bozize has attended an international meeting since ousting President Ange-Felix Patasse in a coup on 15 March.

So far, CEMAC - comprising the CAR, Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo (ROC) - remains the only international body that has recognised Bozize's administration.

Speaking on Africa No. 1, a privately owned Gabonese radio, ROC Foreign Minister Rudolph Adada said the summit would "examine the modalities according to which the CEMAC force deployed in the CAR will evolve".

It would also examine "the efforts that the CEMAC states may bring to the CAR at their level", Adada said.

At another summit held on 23 March in Brazzaville, the ROC capital, CEMAC leaders agreed to maintain the force in the CAR until the end of a transition period that Bozize has said would last until January 2005. The leaders also agreed to redefine the force's mandate.

Present in the CAR since December 2002, the 350-man CEMAC force was initially mandated to protect Patasse, secure the CAR-Chad border and restructure the army.

This Libreville summit is the result of an intensive diplomatic campaign by the CAR administration in Africa and Europe, in search of international recognition.

On 24 May, ROC President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who is also CEMAC's chairman, said the regional body would plead the CAR's case to the African Union, the continent's foremost political body.