Woman elected CAR interim leader

The transitional parliament of the Central African Republic yesterday elected Catherine Samba-Panza as the interim president of the war torn-country.Samba-Panza replaces Michel Djotodia, who resigned on January 10 amid international pressure over failure to halt inter-religious violence that killed thousands and displaced more than a million others.Reports from Bangui indicate that Samba-Panza, who was the sitting mayor of the capital, won the elections after defeating seven other candidates.She is tasked with ending months of sectarian killings and guiding the country to elections.Samba-Panza was elected in a second-round runoff by 75 votes to 53 for her rival Desire Kolingba, the son of former president Andre Kolingba.Since March, last year, after the Seleka rebel group took power, a wave of killing and looting unleashed around the country, triggering revenge attacks by a Christian militia known as ‘anti-balaka’.Media reports quoted a spokesperson of a major group of anti-balaka fighters, which had earlier threatened protests against the vote, saying they were happy with Samba-Panza’s election.The group welcomed the fact that a woman had been elected to the presidency for the first time.As a measure to control the violence, the African Union established an African-led International Support Mission to the Central African Republic (Misca) with a mission to intervene in CAR and restore calm and state authority.On the request of the African Union, Rwanda has committed to sending a battalion of 850 peacekeepers to Bangui.Since the airlifting of the Rwandan troops began on January 16, about 470 servicemen and women of the mechanised infantry battalion have so far arrived in CAR.The RwaMechBatt1 was assigned North Bangui Sector. Apart from conducting patrols, the Rwandan troops are guarding strategic installations in North Bangui, including the airport and key institutions such as the presidency office and palace as well as parliament.The Mission, also with contingents fromBurundi, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Chad and Equatorial Guinea, has a mandate to use force in the interest of protecting civilians.

National

Woman elected CAR interim leader