Paris to provide "necessary means" to secure electoral process

The French government will support security efforts to ensure the success of the electoral process scheduled to close the transition period in the Central African Republic (CAR) in early 2005, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Tuesday in the capital, Bangui. "We will provide all necessary means for that [security of the electoral process], and support the CAR forces in accordance with the CAR authorities' will," Alliot-Marie told a news conference after meeting CAR leader Francois Bozize. Alliot-Marie was on a one-day visit to Bangui to see French troops who have been stationed in the CAR since March 2003, and the 380 peacekeepers of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC), which is supported by France. Alliot-Marie, who left Bangui for Cote d'Ivoire via Mali, said France was training and equipping the CAR army so that it could secure the country after a decade of strife. She said the forthcoming elections should take place "in total serenity and a totally democratic atmosphere". According to the initial electoral calendar, a constitutional referendum is scheduled for mid-2004, to be followed by the presidential election and finally municipal and legislative elections. A September-October national reconciliation forum recommended that the elections be organised at a later date, and the order be reversed to start with the presidential election. Alliot-Marie said France wished that the elections would take place "at the indicated dates". Alliot-Marie's visit to the CAR follows that of French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin in July, Cooperation Minister Pierre Wiltzer in November and Army Chief-of-Staff Gen Henri Bentegeat in December. During his visit, Bentegeat announced that more military equipment would be shipped to Bangui in January 2004. French military cooperation is being supervised by the French general, Jean Pierre Peres, who is also Bozize's special adviser in military matters. In July, De Villepin said France would train and equip three army battalions and thirty gendarmerie units, to be deployed across the country. Currently, French instructors are training CAR forces in Kasai military barracks in Bangui, and in Bouar, 454 km northwest of Bangui. "In France we have reopened the doors of military academies to CAR army officers," Alliot-Marie said, adding that the French troops in the CAR would never "substitute for the CAR army".