Civil servants reach agreement to end strike, for now

The government of the Central African Republic agreed on Saturday to pay civil servants two out of 45 months of their salary arrears on the condition that they refrain from striking for at least six months.

"The payment is the beginning of the solution but the government must do more," Pascal Sanze Koro, a primary school teacher, said on Monday.

More than half the nation's civil servants have been on strike since October, which for schoolteachers is since the beginning of the school year.

Under the new agreement signed by six of the country's trade unions, the government will from 20 to 25 November pay workers their arrears. The government said it would pay another two months if workers respect the agreement.

Despite the massive arrears owed employees, the unions are for now only demanding nine months arrears for the year 2005.

According to a May 2004 study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the failure of the government to pay salaries is a leading cause of 15 years of unrest, which has included army mutinies and coups.

The country is rich in diamonds, gold and timber.

Saturday's agreement with the government was reached as an IMF and World Bank delegation was in the country to assess the government's efforts to control its finances.

The representative of the country’s largest trade unions, Union syndicale des travailleurs de Centrafrique, Noel Ramadan, said on Monday that civil servants were sceptical about the government respecting the new agreement.

"But we are waiting to see," he said.

[Political Instability and Growth: The Central African Republic ]