New CAR leader speaks reconciliation
A day after Bangui's mayor Catherine Samba-Panza was elected transitional president by the interim parliament, residents said the capital was unusually calm, apart from isolated acts of looting by gangs of youths.
The city remained under nightly curfew and was patrolled by French and African soldiers.
Saying she wanted a government of technocrats free of corruption, Samba-Panza told a French radio station that she would appoint people regardless of their religious affiliation.
The public and politicians alike hailed the choice of the first woman to lead the CAR after ten months of spiralling violence between Muslim former rebels and Christian vigilantes, which has displaced a million people in the population of 4.6 million.
Residents welcomed the "resounding appeal" by "Madame Catherine" for both the Christian self-defence militias known as "anti-balaka" (anti-machete) and the Muslim fighters to lay down their arms.
A representative of the anti-balaka forces, Levi Yakete, said he had "passed on the ceasefire appeal to our fighters and it is being heeded up until now".
Kossimou, a displaced citizen acknowledged that Samba-Panza's victory speech had been "well spoken. But this lady, we don't really know her. We are waiting to see what she will do during her first months."
No violence was reported Tuesday from the often lawless interior north of Bangui, where clashes have taken place in recent weeks.
Aware that the CAR faces a huge social and humanitarian crisis, the new head of state has announced that she plans to work fast, with the ultimate goal of organising an election by February 2015 at the latest, in which she will be barred from standing for office.
Samba-Panza, who has yet to be sworn in before the provisional Constitutional Court, on Tuesday told Radio France Internationale (RFI) that an interim prime minister "will be named within two or three days..., Wednesday or Thursday."
She stressed that in order to bring peace and order to a poor, landlocked country that has long known political instability at the expense of developing its resources, she wanted a government of high moral calibre.
After decades of corruption since independence from France in 1960, international donors are eager for a credible leader to deal with. On Monday they pledged $496 million (365 million euros) for this year.
The United Nations has warned that the conditions are in place for a potential "genocide" in the CAR, where religious communities had lived together in peace.
Samba-Panza, a Christian, said faith was not important in choosing her team.
"I have no animosity, I am looking for skills, a government of technocrats, with strong moral probity. If I have a prime minister who meets these criteria and is of the Muslim religion, I don't see why I shouldn't appoint him," she told RFI.
Despite pressure from France to hold polls later this year, Samba-Panza said February 2015 would be "manageable" and warned against rushing into an election.
-AFP
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