South Africa to help in reconciliation process, says minister

South Africa will assist the Central African Republic in its reconciliation efforts after seven years of civil strife, visiting South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said on Thursday in the capital, Bangui.

State-owned Radio Centrafrique quoted Dlamini Zuma, who is on a tour of the central Africa sub-region, as saying that she would consult with reconciliation experts in her country in order to "come up with practical suggestions" applicable to the CAR reconciliation process.

She was speaking at the end of a day-long tour in Bangui, where she had come to consider "how best South Africa could contribute to the CAR stabilisation".

Prior to her CAR visit, Dlamini Zuma had toured Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon and the Republic of Congo. In Bangui, she held talks with President Francois Bozize, Prime Minister Abel Goumba, the Speaker of the National Transitional Council, Nicolas Tiangaye, Communications Minister Parfait Mbaye and Foreign Affairs Minister Karim Meckassoua.

A transitional government was formed in the CAR following a coup by Bozize on 15 March, which ousted President Ange-Felix Patasse. Upon seizing power, Bozize launched the country's reconciliation process with the inclusion of all political, social and religious affiliations in all levels of the administration.

A month-long reconciliation forum was held from September to mid-October, at the end of which the delegates recommended the formation of a truth and reconciliation commission. A team has since been appointed to oversee the implementation of the forum's recommendations.

Largely inspired by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission that was set up at the end of apartheid in 1994, the CAR commission would hear testimony from political and military actors who played a key role in the country's repeated crises in the last seven years.

During the reconciliation forum, key actors such as former presidents Andre Kolingba and David Dacko addressed the delegates and apologised for mistakes they may have committed during their administration.

Dlamini Zuma’s visit, which coincided with one by French Cooperation Minister Pierre Andre Wiltzer, was perceived as the achievement of recognition of Bozize’s administration by the international community.

Local analysts had perceived South Africa as being opposed to the new administration, having refused to invite CAR Mining Minister Sylvain Ndoutingaye to a conference in April in South Africa and having refused to invite the CAR delegation to an African Union (AU) summit in July in Maputo, Mozambique, when South African President Thabo Mbeki was chairman of the AU.

Meanwhile, the EC has completed its report on the CAR after five months of consultations on the government's quest for international recognition. EC ambassador Josep Lloveras and French ambassador Jean Pierre Destouesse presented the report to Bozize on Wednesday.

"The report indicates that the EC will accompany the [government’s ] efforts during the transition", Lloveras said on state-owned Television Centrafricaine on Thursday.

He gave no further detail on the EC’s position regarding the CAR government.