EU chief Leyen doubts post-brexit trade deal

I am very worried given the little time we have: Ursula von der Leyen

PARIS: European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has expressed "serious concern" over whether the bloc could conclude a post-brexit trade deal with Britain within the 2020 deadline.

Britain is due to leave the European Union on January 31, but will remain in a transitional arrangement until the end of next year while negotiators debate future trade ties.

"I am very worried given the little time we have," von der Leyen told France's Les Echos newspaper in an interview published Friday. "It's not only about negotiating a free trade deal but many other subjects. It seems to me that on both sides we must ask ourselves seriously if all these negotiations are feasible in such a short time," she said. "I believe that it would be reasonable to review things in the middle of the year, if necessary to see if an extension is needed." Under the withdrawal agreement which Prime Minister Boris Johnson has agreed with Europe but not yet pushed through parliament, the UK could ask for a one or two year extension.

But Johnson, who won a comfortable majority in the UK general election this month, insists he will not ask for more time and is preparing legislation to forbid such a move.

In this case, negotiators will only have 11 months to conclude a trade agreement, a task that officials on both sides have warned is extremely ambitious.

And if 2020 comes to an end with no deal concluded, Britain will sever ties with the huge EU single market with no follow-on deal to protect jobs and trade on both sides.

EU'S chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said earlier this week that drafting and ratifying a post-brexit deal by next year was an "immense challenge but we will give it our all".

BANGUI (CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC): At least 30 people were killed in fighting between militiamen and traders in a restive district of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, a security official and a local imam said on Thursday.

"Thirty bodies have been brought to the mosque," said Awad Al Karim, the imam of the Ali Babolo mosque in a district called PK5 that became a haven for many Bangui Muslims at the peak of Christianmuslim clashes in the country.

A security official, who asked to remain anonymous, also put the number of dead at at least 30, without providing any further details.

The fighting began after traders in the district took up arms to oppose taxes levied by militia groups, the imam said.

Bursts of automatic fire and explosions were heard on

Wednesday evening and on Thursday morning, according to an AFP journalist who was in a neighbouring district.

The head of the African Red Cross, Antoine Mbaobogo, said the toll "stood at 23 at 4 pm but could now be 33," adding that there were still bodies near the market. Neither the UN peacekeeping force MINUSCA nor the CAR authorities have been able to assert control over the

PK5 district.

And MINUSCA did not provide any exact toll from the fighting, saying only there had been "dozens of victims".

MINUSCA spokesman, Bili Aminou Alao, said a rapid response force had been sent to the area. "Part of the market and some vehicles have been burned," he said. "Between 40 and 50 shops have been burned down, as well as four or five houses," said Patrick Bidilou Niabode, head of the CAR'S civil protection service.

Voluntary firefighters put out two fires which had been spreading in the market but were unable to tackle a blaze at two houses because of heavy gunfire, he added.

The CAR is one of the world's poorest and most volatile countries. It has been gripped by sporadic violence since 2014, after then-president Francois Bozize was ousted in a coup.

Fierce fighting then erupted between predominantly Christian and Muslim militia, prompting the intervention of former colonial power France, under a UN mandate. Attempts to broker a lasting peace have repeatedly broken down and most the country lies in the hands of armed groups, who often fight over the country's mineral resources.

‘It’s not only about negotiating a free trade deal but many other subjects’