[allAfrica.com] Massive Demonstrations Back Coup Leader Vanguard (Lagos) NEWS March 31, 2003 Posted to the web March 31, 2003 By Isa Umar Yakubu Bangui More than 100,000 cheering people Friday took to the streets of Bangui to voice support for General Francois Bozize, who toppled earlier this month the elected president of Central African Republic in a military coup. The turnout noted by officials and journalists alike was way beyond that expected by all but the most optimistic of former opposition figures and rights activists glad to see the back of Ange-Felix Patasse, ousted on March 15. Many in the colourful throng said the country, on which Patasse had kept a tenuous grip since he was elected in 1993 amid fraud allegations, had not seen the like since the fall in 1979 of self-proclaimed emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa. Expectations are now running high in the landlocked, poverty-stricken nation, which has endured two previous coup attempts and several army mutinies in less than a decade and seen Bangui swept by looters and armed thugs. People who started gathering at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) chanted "Bozize the liberator" and "We've been freed". They carried placards saying "Long live liberator Francois Bozize" and "Yes to national reconciliation". The crowds were addressed by 76-year-old politician Abel Goumba, a respected opposition figure who has been asked by the new self-appointed head of state to form as broad-based and honest a government as he can. "It's a renaissance of the CAR that is starting. We need the support of all to find again our unity and recover our dignity that has been trampled on by those outside the law," said Goumba. The new prime minister described the coup that brought Bozize, a former armed forces chief, to power "as a real popular uprising, a revolution of a people in search of change." However, Goumba warned people not to expect spectacular rapid results from the government he plans to announce next week, as it grapples with the problems of a country long riddled with corruption. "We have to make our own efforts at rebuilding it clear before calling on the international community, an international community to which I express the gratitude of all Centrafrican people for the help it will give us in this effort." A march organiser, Urbain Randall, said the aim was "to show international opinion that what happened in Central Africa is a necessary evil," since the regime change that is known to have claimed 13 lives has been condemned by bodies such as the African Union. After addresses at the Bangui monument that commemorates the former French colony's founding father, Barthelemy Boganda, processions from all parts of the city joined as one to head off to the Boganda stadium. Amid a phenomenal racket there, Bozize, wearing military uniform, walked the last 100 metres (yards) to a podium, his security guards unable to clear enough way through the crowd for his car. "This country was down in the dirt," he said, speaking in the national Sango language. "It was pillaged. The democratic game was not being played. We have suffered greatly. But I assure you, we have a lot to do to bring it to its feet. Now is the time for real change." The general thanked Bangui's people for their support and urged them to do their jobs. "There's only one remedy to get the country back on its feet: work, nothing but hard work," he said. Because of looting that followed the coup, Bozize issued stern warnings against trouble- makers, with local soldiers now conducting joint patrols with 400 troops sent from neighbouring Chad. The Chadians are officially under the command of a Gabonese-led regional peacekeeping force of 310 men, first deployed towards the end of last year by the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2003 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). =============================================================================