Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoSecurity Council
7747th Security Council Meeting: Situation in Central African Republic
Resolution 2301 (2016) Spells out Immediate, Priority, Essential, Core Tasks
The Security Council today extended until 15 November 2017 the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), adapting it to the new circumstances prevailing in that country.
Unanimously adopting resolution 2301 (2016) under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the Council decided that the Mission’s troop ceiling would remain at 10,750 military personnel (including 480 observers and staff officers); 2,080 police (including 400 individual police officers); and 108 corrections officers. The mandate would be implemented on the basis of prioritizing tasks, in a phased manner when relevant.
By other terms of the text, the Council authorized French forces to use all necessary means to provide operational support to elements of MINUSCA from the date of adoption.
The Council decided that the Mission’s strategic objective was to support conditions conducive to sustainably reducing the presence of, and the threat posed by, armed groups, through a comprehensive approach, adopting a “proactive and robust” posture, without prejudice to basic peacekeeping principles. Along those lines, MINUSCA’s immediate priority peacekeeping tasks would include protecting civilians, promoting and protecting human rights and facilitating a secure environment for the immediate and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance.
According to the text, MINUSCA’s core priority tasks would focus on supporting reconciliation and stabilization processes, extending State authority and preserving the Central African Republic’s territorial integrity. The Mission would also provide strategic and technical advice on the design and implementation of a security-sector reform strategy, while supporting disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and repatriation programmes. It would provide assistance for advancing the rule of law and combating impunity, and support efforts by national authorities to develop a strategy for tackling the illicit exploitation and trafficking of natural resources.
Further by the text, MINUSCA would support national and international justice and the rule of law through such essential tasks as helping to reinforce the independence of the judiciary and providing strategic, policy and technical advice on the design and implementation of a transitional justice strategy.
The Mission’s additional tasks would include seizing arms and related materiel transferred into the Central African Republic in violation of measures imposed under resolution 2127 (2013), according to the text. The Council demanded that all militias and armed groups lay down their arms, cease violence and release children from their ranks, immediately and unconditionally. It also urged the national authorities to address the presence and activity of such groups in the country through a comprehensive strategy prioritizing dialogue and the urgent implementation of an inclusive demobilization, reintegration and repatriation programme, to be implemented in coherence with security-sector reform, which would ensure civilian oversight of defence and national security forces, with support from the international community.
On the political front, the Council expressed its support for Faustin-Archange Touadéra as President of the Central African Republic, and welcomed the formation of the Government. It urged the authorities to implement a genuine and inclusive reconciliation by addressing local grievances across the entire national territory. Recalling the crucial role of civil society in ensuring that the political solution addressed the root causes of the conflict in the country, the Council underscored the importance of respect for the constitution so as to ensure the country’s long-term stabilization and development.
François Delattre (France), speaking after the action, said the Council’s unanimous adoption of the text sent the Mission and the Central African Republic a message of unity and support. The text adapted MINSUCA’s mandate to new circumstances prevailing in the country, where the goal was stabilization, after a successful transition. With many challenges ahead, the national authorities could count on MINUSCA, he said, pointing out that with 13,000 uniformed personnel plus a significant civilian component, the Mission would have the means to combat armed groups and others who attempted to derail its efforts.
Ambroisine Kpongo (Central African Republic) welcomed the renewal of MINUSCA’s mandate, saying the resolution reflected the level of ambition for the Mission. Highlighting some of the text’s provisions, she said it was vital for MINUSCA to be active, or even proactive, in protecting civilians, whose security was still threatened by numerous armed criminal groups, even if the situation was no longer as it had been a few months ago. She also welcomed the resolution’s focus on neutralizing armed groups as a strategic objective, and the extension of urgent temporary measures, which President Touadéra had requested, and which hopefully would be implemented decisively.
Noting that much had been accomplished in recent months, she said that, going forward, the main task would be to ensure a successful stabilization phase, with MINUSCA’s mandate adapted to new circumstances, adding that the Secretary-General’s proposals, reflected in the resolution, were a good starting point. She recalled that, after the events of 1996 and the deployment of the first United Nations mission in the country, no serious analysis of the post-conflict situation had been conducted, and a period of calm had led to the idea that all was well. If mistakes and relapses were to be avoided, and in order to make MINUSCA the last United Nations mission in the country, the new authorities must be given the means to pull the nation out of a state of destitution and psychosis, she emphasized. “The Central African Republic is at a turning point in its history,” she said, adding that she was pleased to be able to count on the support of the United Nations and the Security Council.
The meeting began at 3:06 p.m. and ended at 3:18 p.m.
