Posted on 09/16/2002 3:19:24 AM PDT by Clive
The Central African Republic (CAR) has signed a 99-year treaty giving Libya the right to exploit its oil, uranium and other mineral resources.
CAR mines minister Andre Nalke Dorogo told Reuters that the deal was signed in June and covered all mineral resources.
"It's a normal accord between one sovereign country and another. The agreement concerns all resources, notably diamonds, gold, copper, iron and - if possible - oil," Mr Dorogo said.
"It covers the entire country," he added.
The deal comes a year after Libyan troops helped to stop an army revolt against President Ange Felix Patasse.
"This is strictly an economic agreement, if the Central African Republic wants to sign an agreement with Libya, as it is a sovereign country it has every right to do so, but in this accord there is no link with military assistance," he said.
Libyan help
The government hopes that with Libyan help it might unlock some of it suspected oil riches.
Its northern neighbour discovered oil just over the border and a controversial World Bank-backed pipeline to the Cameroon coast is expected to bring substantial earnings.
"It's a matter of us trying together to profit from Libya's experience," Mr Dorogo said.
"We need to undertake a study to value our oil reserves in view of future exploitation," he said.
The CAR government is expected to receive royalties from the Societe Africaine Libyenne d'Investissement (LAICO), the Libyan development agency.
French snub?
Traditionally France has dominated development in its former colony, with many contracts dating back to independence in 1960.
France withdrew its troops from CAR in 1998.
Opposition leader Paul Bellet has criticised Libya's influence in the country and questioned why the deal had not gone before parliament.
"The people's representatives must be allowed to study this contract and see that it is in the national interest," he said.
Land-locked CAR ranks among the world's poorest countries with an average gross domestic product per capita of $287 (£184) last year.
The conference was at pains to present a plan of action that would not contain language offensive to the Western powers. For example, it resisted Libya's urging to take a swipe at Zionism.
South Africa insisted on the inclusion of a number of sophisticated antiterror measures in the plan of action that have huge financial and logistic implications for the majority of African countries. These include compiling a population register and issuing forgery-proof passports and other identification.
The Algiers Convention has prompted some objections among Western countries by excluding from its definition of terrorism those liberation movements fighting to regain occupied territory. The convention was also silent on the issue of state terrorism.
The conference took up Algeria's offer to host an African Center for the Research and Study of Terrorism, but opted to examine the financial implications before making this facility a permanent part of the nascent African Union, which recently replaced the Organization of African Unity.***
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