Schools reopen as two-month strike ends

Schools across the Central African Republic (CAR) have reopened and services have resumed in other sectors since civil servants ended their two-month strike over salary arrears on Thursday. "Our demand over unpaid salaries was partly met, as the government has accepted to pay three months’ wages in 30 days," said Noel Ramadane, the vice-chairman of the country's largest trade union, the Union syndicale des travailleurs de Centrafrique. "This shows the goodwill of the CAR authorities to find a solution to our grievances." He said the government had yet to meet all of the workers demands, however, including the lifting of a freeze on salary increments. One catalyst to ending the strike was President Francois Bozize's personal intervention in resolving the salary arrears crisis that had intensified since late October 2005. Bozize met with trade union leaders on 30 December 2005, in the presence of diplomats accredited to the country, and appealed to the striking workers to return to work. During the meeting, the president called for the resumption of dialogue between the government and the civil servants and promised to monitor the salary arrears issue. "The situation is serious for the CAR and we are on the verge of a catastrophe," he said. Despite the reopening of schools, observers doubt whether all material for the academic year would be covered, given the length of the strike. Educational programmes in the country are based on a timetable of 32 weeks, and the strike had lasted 10 weeks. Headmaster Emilien Rafai, of the Martyrs Secondary School, was optimistic, however. "There is nothing to worry about as far as the programmes are concerned," he said. "We still have more time ahead, and I am confident that we will do our best to cover the largest part of the programmes."