Bangui officials to meet EC team in Brussels

Central African Republic (CAR) officials will meet an EC team on 12 June in Brussels, Belgium, "to help find solutions to the country's problems," Prime Minister Abel Goumba told a news conference on Saturday. Speaking in the capital, Bangui, on his return from a two-week European tour, Goumba said the meeting would be the "ultimate and decisive consultation about the EC position on our [government's] recognition". Goumba visited Belgium and France between 5 and 20 May in an effort to seek international recognition for the government formed after Francois Bozize, a former CAR army chief of staff, ousted President Ange-Felix Patasse in a coup on 15 March. In Brussels, Goumba said he found "much comprehension on the part of our interlocutors", and in France, his delegation had met government officials and businessmen who "heard the country's problems with a kindly ear". The prime minister said that some of the people he met had set a number of conditions for the CAR to meet before it could gain recognition. These, he said, included the restoration of civil and military security and good governance. Goumba's campaign for recognition was the first such mission to Europe since the coup. While many international organisations and states have condemned the unconstitutional change of government in the CAR, others, like the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC), have recognised the new administration. On his way back from Europe, Goumba passed through Gabon and the Republic of Congo where he requested the heads of state to confirm a planned regional summit on the CAR. He said his delegation failed to tour the United States because "we would not be given visas as we are considered as outlaws". Goumba said that the CAR minister for mining failed to travel to South Africa in April to attend an international meeting because he could not get a visa. "Anglophones are opposed to us and we are happy that there were not so many of them in Brussels," Goumba said. So far, only China has officially announced the resumption of cooperation programmes with the CAR, which were suspended following the coup. China has since begun the construction of a 20,000-seat football stadium in Bangui and 100 low-cost apartments in a city suburb. Moreover, China granted CAR US $2.5 million in April, which the government used to pay part of the month's salaries for civil servants.