BANGUI, Jan 19: Central African Republic’s Prime Minister Elie Dote and his government resigned on Friday in the midst of a general strike called by unions to demand the payment of months of salary arrears to civil servants.

Dote, who had been prime minister since 2005, announced his resignation as the country’s parliament was preparing to vote on a censure motion against him.

President Francois Bozize was expected to name a new prime minister in the coming days to form a new administration in the landlocked, poor former French colony, which has suffered a spate of coups and mutinies in the past decade.

The country’s main trade unions launched a general strike on Jan 2 to demand that the government pay some seven months of arrears in salaries to civil servants and teachers. The stoppage has sparked some demonstrations in the streets of Bangui by students angry about not being able to attend classes.

The government says it does not have the funds to pay the salary arrears, and a meeting between Bozize and union leaders on Thursday failed to reach a settlement.

Dote’s government resigned just weeks before the Central African Republic was due to receive European Union peacekeepers who are to deploy in its northeast corner to protect civilians from violence spilling over from Sudan’s Darfur region.

Western diplomats in Bangui said the strike posed a problem for Bozize.—Reuters