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SOS CEMAC !

It doesn’t rain, it rather pours for the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, CEMAC at this moment. Already mired in multifarious problems, least of which is not the difficulty of integrating the economies of the six-member community through, even the simple free movement of citizens using a common currency, here is a new problem about its physical presence in Bangui.

The violent change of regime in Bangui last March 24 has had far-reaching collateral effects on the daily functioning of CEMAC and also casts a dangerous spell on the community’s future. The indisciplined SELEKA rebels who disbanded and chased away the elected government of General Bozize do not seem to have given the required attention to the pertinent sections of the Vienna Convention of April 18, 1961 on the protection of diplomats; let alone respecting the headquarters agreement signed between the Central African Republic and the CEMAC leadership.

The generalized looting in Bangui did not spare the headquarters of CEMAC while homes of international staff serving with he body were also systematically looted, leaving in the trail an atmosphere of fear and insecurity. Understandably, few workers of CEMAC would stick their heads out of what is left of their homes.

Again CEMAC has ground to a halt; not because of feet-dragging by the political leadership but because of the insecurity in its host city.

In view of the prevailing situation, an extraordinary meeting of the ministerial Council of Economic Union of Central Africa, a governing organ of the community, met last April 12 in Libreville and resolved to move the headquarters of CEMAC, even if only temporarily, to another location within the community far away from the turmoil of Bangui.

What is certain is that the seat of CEMAC will be, as of necessity, moved out of Bangui. In so doing CEMAC leaders will be far from re-inventing the wheel. Even within the CEMAC realm, there are precedents. At the peak of the civil war in Congo-Brazzaville in the early 90s, the seat of the Regional Bureau for Africa of the World Health Organisation, WHO, was moved from Brazzaville to Harare. Many years later in the early 2000, the seat of the African Development Bank and the African Development Fund were moved to the safety of Tunis from the tumultuous Abidjan of the time. As we went to press late yesterday President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon confirmed that Libreville could host CEMAC while a solution is being found. But the current hullabaloo created by insecurity in Bangui raises several questions at political and economic levels. Politically and diplomatically, the Central African Republic’s image is somehow diminished by these happenings, especially as the hosting of an international organization has always been considered as a diplomatic victory for the host country in the same manner as its international image is bolstered. The social and economic ramifications are even more disturbing. Hundreds of international staff sustain the local economy in many ways, least of which is not the money they inject into the system through local shopping, rents and the like. The number of jobs for local personnel is also going to be considerably cut down, engendering more pain in an already precarious social and economic environment. This veritable oxygen mask in the hands of a problem-ridden Central African Republic is being taken off. And one can expect that the country’s problems will only be exacerbated.

The country has a long history of strife and instability; but CEMAC and its ancestors have always resisted exactions because none had ever gotten to this level.

It is therefore incumbent on the new authorities in Bangui to bring back normalcy by bringing its SELEKA rebels under control and training them to respect republican values.

It is even more urgent to use the occasion of this hiccup in Bangui to re-arm the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States.

Events leading to the departure of CEMAC from Bangui could end up being a blessing in disguise. The precariousness of a temporary location may provide a good opportunity to address the community’s problems differently and in a manner as to help jump-start this under-used instrument of economic integration in Central Africa.

 

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