Bangui (Fides Service)- “Now that Central Africa has a regularly elected President and a Parliament there can be no excuses, the international community must take measures to send financial aid because the country has reached the end of its tether” say local sources commenting the official announcement of the victory of François Bozizé in the second round of presidential elections on May 8 (see Fides 7 May 2005).
François Bozizé obtained 64.6% of the votes compared to the 35.6 won by his main adversary 35,4 Martin Ziguelé the last prime minister of president Ange-Felix Patassé overthrown by Bozizé, according to the official results of the election which with legislative elections marks the end of two year interim period following the coup.
“Martin Ziguelé accepted the result and called on his supporters to do the same saying they were not to stage street protests but to respect the law. This was an important step towards respect for the rules of democracy and the country’s return to normality” the sources told Fides.
President Bozizé called for national harmony underlining the country’s serious economic problems: “Today we have no choice but to work together to rebuild Central Africa whose economy has been drained by years of repeated political-military crises”.
“The economic and social situation is on the verge of collapse” the sources confirm. “Bangui university teachers are still on strike to protest against non payment of salaries for more than 30 months”.
“International finance institutions must intervene urgently. So far we have been abandoned to our destiny. But now we have institutions which are democratic elected. There are no excuses for not granting aid immediately. This must come quickly, the people are desperate” our sources conclude.
Central Africa is one of the poorest countries in the world with an annual income per head of 260 dollars, a foreign debt of 1.3 million dollars; life expectancy is 39.5 and more than one child out of ten die before the age of 5. Less than half the adult population (48.5 per cent) can read and write. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/5/2005 righe 3 parole 383)