Government pays salary arrears

The new administration in the Central African Republic (CAR) has begun paying salary arrears for civil servants, the police and the military, the government-controlled Radio Centrafrique reported on Sunday. The government promised that from the beginning of April it would pay salaries monthly. "We strongly commit ourselves to paying every month's salaries from now on," Daniel Nditifei Boyssembe, the junior minister of economy, finance and budget, said. The payments made on Friday were civil servants' salary arrears of April 2001, the June 2001 arrears for the police and those of August 2001 for the military. Boyssembe said the government would pay the remaining 20 to 34 salary arrears when the country's financial situation improved. "It would be a lie if I said that we could pay three months' salaries next week," he said. By 15 March 2003, when Francois Bozize seized power in a coup from former President Ange-Felix Patasse, teachers in the country were owed between 20 and 34 months' pay. The fight for the presidency which intensified between the government and rebels in October 2002 affected the country's agricultural regions, blocked the main arteries for imports and caused prices to rise. As a consequence people's purchasing power decreased considerably. Speaking to diplomats in the CAR on Thursday, Bozize said that the government was able to pay salary arrears after receiving a grant from China, whose deputy foreign minister visited the CAR recently. The salary issue had paralysed many sectors of the economy, especially education and health, with repeated and indefinite strikes by workers. Meanwhile, the executive board of the former ruling Mouvement de liberation du peuple centrafricain (MLPC)of Patasse, now in exile in Togo, has rejected his idea of forming the Front de liberation du peuple centrafricain (FLPC) to overthrow Bozize. In a statement signed on 9 April by the MLPC first deputy chairman, Hugues Dobozendi, the party also denied responsibility for the armed resistance that is allegedly being organised by MLPC youths in the capital, Bangui. "The MLPC executive board appeals to its members to conform to the executive board's directives," Dobozendi said. Despite a disarmament campaign that followed the coup, weapons are still held illegally, and the former MLPC militia, which was officially armed during Patasse's administration, is still seen as a threat to the country's stability. The 10 pm to 5 am curfew imposed after the coup is still in force. The MPLC statement was issued as officials of the former administration started moving out of their hideouts in several embassies in Bangui, following Bozize's call on Thursday offering them security guarantees and fair hearings should they have to face legal proceedings. At the same time, bank accounts of 26 former CAR ministers have been frozen following a decision on 1 April by the state prosecutor to investigate allegations of embezzlement.