Party over in Central Africa as troops return to barracks

The interim president of the violence-wracked Central African Republic declared Monday that "the party is over" after weeks of deadly sectarian violence as deserting troops and police returned to duty. Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet, speaker of the country's provisional parliament and interim president, vowed that the "anarchy" that has gripped the country would be swiftly brought to an end. And he issued a stern warning to warring militiamen from the mostly Muslim Seleka group and the anti-balaka Christian fighters set up to oppose them. Speaking at a police headquarters in the capital Bangui, he said: "To the ex-Seleka, to the anti-balaka and the lovers of looting, I'm giving you a severe warning: The party is over." Nguendet, whose parliament has been charged with finding a new transitional president within two weeks, declared: "The chaos is over, the pillaging is over, the revenge attacks are over." The return of soldiers and police to duty was another encouraging sign for the Central African Republic after weeks of horrific sectarian violence including reports of cannibalism. Sunday night was "particularly calm" with no reports of looting, according to residents contacted by AFP. The troops, many of whom had fled their units for fear of being killed, heeded a call from chief of staff General Ferdinand Bomboyeke to return to barracks by Monday. "They came in very large numbers and they're still coming," Colonel Desire Bakossa, who supervised the registration, told AFP. "They answered the general's call. It's a relief. It's a very good sign." Similar centres have opened in Bangui for police to register after many of them deserted too. Nguendet said the police, completely absent from the streets of Bangui in recent weeks, would be "redeployed within 72 hours and would take part in the disarmament process" underway in the city. "I'm very happy to see again my brothers in arms," said adjutant Jacky-Morel Gbabja, who fled his unit in December to take shelter with his family. 'A shame for the nation' Nguendet's speech came the day after scenes of reconciliation in the southern Bangui neighbourhood of Bimbo as rival fighters struck a truce and embraced. The interim president also went to the airport where some 100,000 people were sheltering to urge them to return home. Ten months of violence have displaced a fifth of the country's population, and the sectarian flare-up has killed more than 1,000 people in the past month alone, despite a French military intervention and the presence of an African peacekeeping force, MISCA. France has deployed 1,600 troops in the country to support MISCA, which is meant to have up to 6,000 troops but has not yet reached 3,500. "It is a shame for the nation to see the security of the people of Central Africa entrusted to regional and international organisations," said Nguendet. The provisional parliament was due to begin consultations on Tuesday with politicians and civil society members in a bid to elect a successor to former president Michel Djotodia, who resigned last week under international pressure. Djotodia, the first Muslim leader in the majority-Christian nation, had come under fire for failing to rein in the rebels who brought him to power in March 2013 and whose abuses triggered retaliatory violence by Christian militias. The council's deputy speaker Lea Koyassoum Doumta sketched out to AFP on Sunday the criteria the new president must meet. "He must be someone who can unite Central Africans, restore security, ease tensions, put everybody back to work and pave the way for free, democratic and transparent elections," she said. The new president will inherit a country in turmoil with a climate of sectarian hatred, nearly a million people displaced in a country of 4.6 million, an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, a paralysed government administration and an economy in chaos. He will have little time to perform miracles even if he benefits from the political, military and financial support of the international community; the timetable for the transition calls for general elections to be held no later than the first half of 2015. But France, the former colonial power which is spearheading international efforts to end the crisis, wants elections to be held as early as the end of 2014. According to political sources on the ground, there were likely to be 10 or so candidates with Nguendet himself possibly featuring as one of the favourites.