Bangui – A proposal to allow a Central African Republic president to run for a third term of office was dropped on Friday at national reconciliation talks after civil society groups threatened to walk out.
A constitutional change allowing a head of state to stand for a third term had been raised at initial discussions in the capital Bangui.
Following his controversial re-election, President Faustin Archange Touadera promised in late 2020 to hold the so-called Republican Dialogue for reconciliation.
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The talks aimed at bringing peace to the troubled country kicked off Monday but no rebel groups were invited and the opposition is boycotting the forum.
“We are not against the authorities but their demand is against the interest of the Republic,” Gervais Lakosso, a member of the civil society working group at the talks, told AFP.
The committee overseeing the dialogue was not “competent” to change the constitution, chair of the dialogue Richard Filkota told a rowdy session at the national assembly.
Opposition parties have complained the dialogue agenda makes no mention of the “question of the post-election crisis”.
This is a reference to the disputed vote, when less than a third of the electorate were able to cast their ballot as most of the country is in the hands of armed groups
Regional experts and diplomats say the dialogue forum looks increasingly like an attempt to pacify the international community, which has put the Central African Republic, one of the world’s poorest nations, on a drip feed.
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Half of the population endures acute food insecurity, according to the United Nations, which has been present in the country since 2014 in one of its costliest ever peacekeeping missions.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter / @RwandaMFA
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