Demonstrators in C. Africa Reject Call for Election Delay
Several hundred people, some in military uniforms, demonstrated Tuesday in the capital of the restive Central African Republic over a peace forum's recommendation that upcoming general and presidential elections be delayed.
The protesters, who erected barricades and burnt tires on major roads, including the road linking Bangui to the airport, also demanded that the country's interim President Catherine Samba-Panza step aside.
The demonstrators were later dispersed by police.
On Monday, armed groups, political and religious figures and civil society members attending a peace forum called for the polls slated for July and August to be postponed over "the poor mobilization of donors to finance the electoral process".
The forum also called for an "exceptional extension" of the mandate of the country's interim government so it could adequately prepare for the polls, seen by the international community as crucial to CAR's recovery from a spiral of violence triggered by a 2013 coup.
The delegates did not say when the balloting should take place. Samba-Panza said the country should go to the polls "at the latest by the end of the year".
Central African Republic was plunged into turmoil after the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance ousted president Francois Bozize, a Christian, in March 2013.
The episode triggered a wave of deadly sectarian violence between the country's Christian and Muslim populations.
The mainly Christian "anti-balaka" (anti-machete) militia and the ex-Seleka rebels signed a ceasefire deal in April.
Source: Agence France Presse
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