UN mission leads campaigns for peace

The UN peace-building office in the Central African Republic (CAR) is carrying out peace campaigns aimed at establishing a frank dialogue between the population, government and military authorities. "We want to make the Central African people understand that they have to adopt peaceful behaviour and attitude," Aissatou Laba Toure, information officer for the UN mission, known as BONUCA, told IRIN. She said that BONUCA's information section conducts peace campaigns every two months that involve dialogue with government and military authorities about the international principles of relations between governors and their constituents. "During our campaigns, we first talk to the district governor [prefet] and his assistant [sous-prefet] to tell them that the way they treat the population is not always good," said Toure. She added that BONUCA often conveys to the authorities messages that the general population fears to express. Toure said BONUCA was hoping to tour the entire country in its campaign for peace. The last such campaign took place from 29 August to 3 September at Mobaye, 600 km east of the capital, Bangui. That region is mostly inhabited by the Yakoma, the ethnic group of former president Andre Kolingba who admitted to having planned the failed 28 May 2001 coup d'etat. "The facts speak for themselves," said Abel Balenguele, who headed the BONUCA mission to Mobaye. "The people complained that they were able to integrate easily 3,000 former Zairean soldiers, but that they were now unable to cohabit with 25 CAR soldiers." Balenguele told IRIN the government had recently taken draconian measures against undisciplined soldiers. "The mission was very fruitful for the authorities who attended the meeting and begged the population's pardon for their misdeeds," he said. The next peace mission will target Bria, 600 km northeast of Bangui. CAR has suffered repeated crises since 1996, when repeated mutinies erupted. The situation worsened considerably with the 28 May 2001 coup d'etat, followed by the November 2001 armed resistance by Gen Francois Bozize, former chief of staff of the army.