Saved by the cash

A quick subsidy helps the Patassé government out of a crisis

The United Nations Security Council on 23 January expressed its 'grave preoccupation' with the situation in the Central African Republic - less than a year after it had withdrawn its Mission des Nations Unies en République Centrafricaine (Minurca) observer mission there (AC Vol 41 No 1). Minurca was then hailed as a rare success for UN military intervention in Africa. It had restored civilian rule under elected President Ange-Félix Patassé, following army mutinies in 1996 and 1997. Many public-sector workers were owed arrears of up to two years' salary, though. By late January, the resulting unrest led UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to describe the situation as 'explosive', urging Patassé's government to engage in constructive dialogue with the opposition.

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Ange-Félix Patassé, Kofi Annan, Libya, France, Congo-Kinshasa, Jean-Pierre Bemba, Cameroonian, Théophile Sonny Cole, David Dacko, United States, Chadian, Jean-Paul Ngoupandé, Jean-Marc Simon, Flood of weapons, Sudan, Marcel Metefara, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, Rwandan, Congo-Brazzaville, Joseph Kabila, Botswana, Ketumile Masire, Omar Bongo, Gabon, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Mission des Nations Unies en République Centrafricaine, pays mort, Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo, Union Syndicale des Travailleurs de la Centrafrique, Mouvement pour la Libération du Peuple Centrafricain, Codos, Parti de l'Unité Nationale, Codos, Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie, Kisangani, Front pour la Libération du Congo, Forces Armées Congolaises, père

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