On March 15, President Faustin Archange Touadéra had, to everyone’s surprise, announced that the “Republican Dialogue” with the opposition and civil society, would be held from March 21. The program and the objectives had however remained very vague.
This week of discussions, in the precincts of the National Assembly in Bangui, sometimes took place in stormy conditions. In particular when representatives of civil society threatened to withdraw when a modification of the Constitution to allow the head of state to run for a third term was mentioned. The proposal was eventually withdrawn.
600 recommendations made
During a closing ceremony of these meetings, the president of the dialogue, Richard Filkota, announced that 600 recommendations had been formulated.
However, he only listed some of these proposals. Among them, the end of the embargo on firearms. This was imposed by the UN in 2013, following a coalition of armed groups overthrew the regime of President François Bozizé and plunged the country into civil war. Or the establishment of a tax for the army budget.
(Re)see: Central African Republic: arms embargo extended by twelve months
Absence of main political rivals and armed enemies of the regime
“The president has always said that he will bring peace to this country with dialogue, all recommendations are essential“, said Albert Yaloké Mokpeme, spokesperson for the presidency.
“We have to apply these conclusions so that we can get out of it, and this dialogue is a half victory, even if we would have liked the armed groups to be there because they are the source of our problems.“, regretted Bruno Gbiebga, lawyer and human rights activist, member of civil society.
the recommendations will not be implemented. Even if the government wanted to implement them, it wouldn’t have the time or the money.Thierry Vircoulon, Central Africa specialist at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri)
According to Thierry Vircoulon, Central Africa specialist at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), “the recommendations will not be implemented. Even if the government wanted to implement them, it wouldn’t have the time or the money..”
The opposition and several experts in the region had already criticized a reconciliation dialogue without the regime’s main political rivals or armed enemies. They felt that it might not lead to any concrete progress other than the vague promise of a “roadmap“designed to better integrate the opposition and civil society into the governance of the second least developed country in the world, according to the UN.
(Re)see: Central African Republic: the opposition boycotts the reconciliation dialogue