BANGUI, 6 Mar 2003 (IRIN)
- Central African Republic (CAR) President Ange-Felix Patasse
issued a decree on Tuesday establishing a commission to
rehabilitate former civil servants returning from exile, and to
propose their reintegration, according to government-owned Radio
Centrafrique.
It reported on Wednesday that a magistrate of the Court of Appeal
(Cour de Cassation) would head the commission, which is expected
to complete its work in three months. Members of the commission
will comprise the chief prosecutor and representatives from the
defence and public service ministries, labour unions and the CAR
lawyers’ association. The decree indicated that the
commission would be expected to submit a report to the president
on completion of its mandate.
The radio said the commission would "carry out a census of
[former] civil servants returning from exile, check the
circumstances of their going into exile, and ask them whether
they wished to resume service [in their original departments] or
be transferred to another service".
Intellectuals and civil servants fled the country due to internal
conflict. Yakoma (former President Andre Kolingba's ethnic group)
civil servants, intellectuals and about 1,500 soldiers fled to
neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of
Congo following Kolinba's 28 May 2001 abortive coup.
More CAR nationals fled following the 2 November 2001 armed
resistance and the 25 October 2002 coup attempt by the former
army chief of staff, Francois Bozize. Most of those who left in
2002 were members of Bozize's Gbaya ethnic group. Troops loyal to
Bozize have since been fighting the government's forces. Patasse
has on many occasions urged Bozize's men to lay down their arms
and rejoin the army.
Analysts see Patasse’s formation of the commission, which
follows his call for a national dialogue, as a manifestation of a
more positive attitude towards his opponents, who have used the
non-rehabilitation of former civil servants as an argument
against his leadership.