GABON: Regional officials call on Central African delegations to agree to immediate ceasefire

Record ID: 349653

  • Title: GABON: Regional officials call on Central African delegations to agree to immediate ceasefire
  • Date: 9th January 2013
  • Summary: LIBREVILLE, GABON (JANUARY 8, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FOREIGN MINISTERS FROM CENTRAL AFRICAN REGIONAL GROUP, ECCAS MEETING EQUATORIAL GUINEA'S MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS GABON'S MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND OF DEFENCE OFFICIALS FROM SAO TOME ET PRINCIPE SITTING IN THE MEETING ROOM GABONESE OFFICIALS (SOUNDBITE) (French) MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF CHAD, MOUSSA FAKI
  • Embargoed: 24th January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gabon
  • Country: Gabon
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6IZFR55BTNL8X1R56Y89ATJN
  • Story Text: A group of foreign ministers from the Central Africa regional group, ECCAS, gathered in Gabon Tuesday (January 08) night to discuss the upcoming peace negotiations for the Central African Republic.
    Over the past month, the Seleka rebel coalition has launched an insurgency in Central African Republic that has come within striking distance of the capital, Bangui. Delegates from both the rebel coalition, the government as well as opposition figures are now in Libreville, where they have agreed to negotiate.
    At the late-night meeting of ECCAS officials, the Minister of the Republic for Chad said regional delegates there are demanding an immediate end to rebel advancement in Central African Republic.
    ''For this work, the council is asking all parties in the conflict to sign an immediate cease-fire agreement, renewing the call to the rebels to retreat immediately from the occupied towns, calling on the ceasing of all declarations and action that revive tensions on the ground, allowing the government to find a way to end this crisis,'' said Moussa Faki Mahamat.
    Central African Republic President Francois Bozize has said at the peace talks, scheduled for this week in Gabon, he will ask that the loosely-allied insurgent group retreats as well. The rebels have advanced to within 75 kilometres (45 miles) of the capital Bangui.
    A regional force of troops from neighbouring Central African countries is in the Central African Republic to provide support to the country's military.
    On Tuesday, Mahamat added they will be sending more regional troops as needed to the country.
    ''Reconfiguring MICOPAX, a multinational force of intervention, in accordance with the Protocol of the Council of Peace and Security of Central Africa (COPAX), with the deployment of an additional contingent put in place with the appropriate resources,'' he said of Tuesday's decision.
    The peace talks have the backing of the U.N. Security Council, which says Central African Republic's crisis cannot be resolved militarily.
    While lacking the strategic attention gained by other African hotspots such as Somalia, Mali or eastern Congo, Central African Republic nonetheless remains a festering sore of instability at the heart of an economically buoyant continent.
    Experts point to the absence of economic development and government control in Central African Republic's bush interior as a major driver of discontent and revolt in a nation slightly larger than France, but with a population of only 4.5 million.
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