But the impeccably ironed suit and shiny briefcase belie the fact that Mr Mdonga, 36, is often hungry.

The government didn't pay salaries and look what happened, we got a coup

Theophile Sonny Cole, union leader

"The last time I received pay was April 2000. If my family didn't grow cassava, we'd starve," he says from a dusty suburb in Bangui.

The non-payment of public sector workers is an ongoing source of instability in the Central African Republic, which saw a failed coup attempt against the president, Ange-Felix Patasse in May.

'Dead country'

A series of strikes culminating in an operation "Central Africa - dead country" in January brought the country to a standstill, leading the president to offer to pay $10m in salaries out of his own pocket.

Non-payment of the army led to mutinies in 1996 and 1997 and was a factor in the recent putsch, led by a former military leader, Andre Kolingba, in which the government says 59 people were killed and more than 80,000 civilians were displaced.

CAR is diamond rich but cannot pay its civil servants

"If civil servants are not paid, it's easy to bring them out on the streets. If people don't have enough to live on then you've got a security concern," said General Lamine Cisse, representative of the UN secretary general in Bangui.

Public sector workers in the former French colony of 3.5 million people are owed between 12 and 30 months wages and most have not been paid since April 2000.

Thirteen months of the arrears owed to the 19,000 state employees date back to the 12-year military rule of Mr Kolingba, while the remaining debt was accumulated under Mr Patasse.

French paternalism

"Our members are really struggling to survive. And yes, they're angry. The government didn't pay salaries and look what happened, we got a coup," said president of the 15-000-member strong Trade Union of Central African Workers (USIC), Theophile Sonny Cole.

The wages crisis is partly due to a history of heavy French paternalism towards the impoverished country.

Cole warns that governments which don't pay salaries are at risk of coups

From independence until 1994, when France started distancing itself from all of its former African colonies, a large chunk of money to pay Central African civil servants came from Paris.

"The practice of paying public sector salaries was discontinued virtually cold turkey which presented the country with many difficulties," said Dr Emmanuel Fiadzo, a World Bank economic advisor to the prime minister in Bangui.

As a member of the largely French-controlled regional CFA currency zone, the Central African Republic's government does not have the flexibility to print its own money to pay striking workers, which means trade unions are often at its throat.

Siphoned off

Widespread fraud is also a cause of its deficits, as money destined for the treasury is often siphoned off by state employees, admits the government.

"We have to struggle against corruption in the civil service. If we succeed in this we will have no problem finding in the treasury the $6bn CFA every month required to pay public sector workers," says Prime Minister Martin Ziguele.

Import and export duties have to start going back into the treasury, instead of into officials' pockets

Jean-Paul Ngoupande, opposition leader

But a vicious circle remains because civil servants often see stealing from the state and excessive absenteeism in order to moonlight as the only way to obtain money in the face of salary arrears.

"Doctors take medicines from the hospitals to sell. They then only spend a couple of hours in the state hospitals before leaving to work in private clinics," said a ministry of heath official.

In accordance with the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program, the country is trying to increase revenue from customs' duties and the implementation of a Value-Added Tax system, as well as cutting public spending.

Fighting fraud

"But lack of resources to effectively implement the VAT have led to revenue shortfalls leading to the current budget deficit," added Mr Fiadzo.

The prime minister is setting up an enquiry committee to combat fraud at the work place. But opposition leaders say more needs to be done.

"Import and export duties have to start going back into the treasury, instead of into officials' pockets," said the president of the opposition Party of National Unity, Jean-Paul Ngoupande.

"Every Central African has to be convinced by the government that corruption is preventing the country from developing. And examples have to be set from the top."

Handouts

In the short term, the country is asking international organisations and foreign governments for handouts.

A high level aide to Mr Patasse visited Libya in August, where he received promises of $1.3bn CFA from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to help pay salaries.

"International assistance will also help us solve the problem," said Mr Ziguele.

Teacher Yvette Kaima is owed a total of 29 months pay

But for the people who continue to fulfil their duties at work without being paid, making ends meet is a daily struggle.

"I walk 22 km every weekend to grow food. My daughters sell home-made cakes and drinking water on the street to get money to buy salt," says Yvette Kaima, 45, a secondary school teacher, who is owed a total of 29 months pay at 70,000 CFA ($100) a month.

"We had no food in the house yesterday and have none in the house today. Life is difficult. The only consolation is that life is difficult for everyone."