Magistrates call for national judiciary conference

Magistrates in the Central African Republic (CAR) want the government to convene a national conference to examine and solve problems facing the judiciary system, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Monday. The magistrates made the appeal on Monday during a meeting with Justice Minister Hyacinth Wodobode in the CAR capital, Bangui. A similar recommendation was made in October 2003 at the end of a month-long national reconciliation forum. Participants of the forum had questioned the neutrality of some magistrates, claiming that some court decisions were politically motivated. The forum had also recommended the building of more courts. The radio reported that magistrates told Wodobode that a national conference on the judiciary and the construction of more courts in rural areas would contribute significantly to the return of an estimated 41,000 CAR refugees living in southern Chad who are afraid to return for fear of highway robbers said to be operating with impunity in parts of the country. They said the conference would also reassure the numerous victims of the excesses committed by security forces. The magistrates' call comes as former government officials who served under President Ange-Felix Patasse are still in detention awaiting criminal trials. CAR leader Francois Bozize ousted Patasse in a coup on 15 March 2003. Soon after the coup, Bozize dissolved the constitutional court, the highest court in the country.