Central African leader names premier, warns unions

Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:42am EST

(Updates with president's warning to strikers)

By Paul-Marin Ngoupana

BANGUI, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Central African Republic President Francois Bozize named a university rector as prime minister on Tuesday and warned striking unions he would use the security forces to counter any attempts to paralyse the country.

Bozize, who seized power in 2003 and won elections two years later, promised a tough response to the union movements which launched a general strike three weeks ago, demanding payment of seven months of salary arrears to civil servants and teachers.

A presidential decree appointed Faustin Archange Touadera, a professor and rector of Bangui University who is little known in political circles, as prime minister to replace Elie Dote who resigned along with his government on Friday.

Unions have called for public street protests on Wednesday and a nationwide strike on Thursday in the poor, landlocked former French colony, which has suffered a spate of coups and mutinies in the past decade.

"You can be my witnesses ... I give warning (to the unions) that you can't play around with the people in power like that. I will use all means available to me under the constitution to confront these demonstrations," Bozize told political and community leaders and representatives of the security forces.

Striking union leaders did not attend the meeting, which was called to discuss the national situation. The government has said it does not have the funds to meet the unions' demands.

"I am asking the gendarmerie, the police and all other public forces to keep the peace and deploy in every street in Bangui," Bozize said. "Let's mobilise against the enemies of the nation."

Union leaders had already said that changing the prime minister would not halt their general strike, which has already closed schools and disrupted some services. Some students have protested in Bangui about not being able to attend classes.

Bozize accused political opponents, including supporters of former President Ange-Felix Patasse whom he toppled in 2003, of being behind the strike. He said they wanted to seize power.

"They won't be able to take it easily ... do they need the unions as a shield to try to take power again?" he said.

Central African Republic is already facing a humanitarian emergency in its northwest and northeast, where raids by armed groups and counter-attacks by government troops have driven nearly 300,000 people from their homes since 2006.

European Union peacekeepers are due to deploy in the northeast soon to protect civilians from violence spilling over the border from Sudan's Darfur region. A rebel group temporarily occupied part of the area in late 2006.

The peacekeepers are part of a larger EU force, with a United Nations mandate to protect civilians also in eastern Chad, that is expected to start deploying in February.

Bozize signed peace pacts with two rebel groups last year and has been promoting political dialogue in an attempt to pacify the country. (Writing by Pascal Fletcher, editing by Tim Pearce)



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