AU grants Bangui $50,000 for refugee repatriation

The African Union (AU), the foremost political body on the continent, has granted US $50,000 to the Central African Republic (CAR) to support the government's repatriation of CAR refugees, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Thursday. The interim chairman of the AU commission for refugees, Bruno Zidouemba, who was on a three-day visit to the CAR, presented the cheque on Thursday to Justice Minister Faustin Mbodou, the radio reported. Zidouemba said the visit would enable him "to continue to campaign, first among African nations, and also among Africa’s external partners", for the CAR returnees to be assisted home. Mbodou said that the government would be transparent in the management and use of the AU donation. The government, in collaboration with the UN and NGOs, has set up a committee to oversee the return of the refugees. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began on Monday to repatriate CAR refugees from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Congo (ROC). By Wednesday, 1,108 refugees had arrived in Bangui, the capital. The refugees, mostly from the Yakoma ethnic group of former president Andre Kolingba, fled the country in 2001, after Kolingba’s abortive coup on 28 May 2001. The UN World Food Programme has pledged to provide the returnees with food rations for three months. Until recently, the northern DRC was home to about 3,500 CAR refugees. There were about 2,000 CAR refugees in the ROC. Since 15 March, when former army chief of staff Francois Bozize ousted President Ange-Felix Patasse, many CAR nationals living outside the country had expressed their wish to return home. The AU, like other international organisations and states, condemned Bozize's coup. However, it has since appointed Fadok Fayala from Tunisia as its special envoy to the CAR. Only the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC) has recognised Bozize's administration, and granted it $2.5 million for reconstruction. Meantime, "L’Hirondelle", a local privately owned daily newspaper, reported on Thursday that Patasse had asked to attend an AU summit due to be held in July in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. The newspaper reported that interim AU Commission Chairman Amara Essy and the current AU Chairman, South African President Thabo Mbeki, were examining Patasse’s request. The AU has threatened to temporarily exclude the CAR from the continental body.