Archbishop resigns as coordinator of national political talks

Archbishop Paulin Pomodimo, recently appointed by the Vatican to head the archdiocese of Bangui, has resigned as coordinator of the Central African Republic’s national political conference due to run from 10-25 September, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Friday. "I felt incapable of bearing on my shoulders both the coordination of the national dialogue and [my duties as head of] the archdiocese of Bangui," he was quoted as saying. His announcement followed a meeting on Friday with CAR head of state Francois Bozize. Pomodimo said he handed his resignation to Nicholas Tiangaye, Speaker of the National Transitional Council, the country’s law advisory. Pomodimo, 51, had been heading the dialogue coordination since November 2002, when former President Ange-Felix Patasse appointed him and Henri Maidou to prepare for the talks, aiming at ending Bozize’s rebellion. After a six-month war that ravaged the north, Bozize overthrew Patasse on 15 March. Although he kept Pomodimo as the head of the national talks, Bozize said there would be changes to the agenda. On 11 August, the NTC disqualified Patasse, now exiled in Togo, from the talks. The council also proposed a coordination team composed of one coordinator, the deputy, three representatives of the executive and three of the NTC. The NTC recommended Patasse’s exclusion just days after Pomodimo had said on Radio France International that in order to achieve true national reconciliation Patasse should take part in the talks. Pomodimo, who chairs the CAR Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference, is one of the three representatives of religious communities to the NTC. Bozize must now appoint a new head of coordination team as Maidou, too, has been appointed presidential adviser, a position which the NTC says is incompatible with the role as coordinator of the national talks.