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8291st Security Council Meeting: Situation in Central African Republic
It was not too late to stop clashes among armed groups seeking to exploit natural resources from eroding progress towards building an effective, accountable and inclusive State in the Central African Republic, the top United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today, warning about the risk of escalating violence and increased suffering inflicted on the strife-torn nation’s population.
Several recent outbreaks of violence in Bangui and the interior demonstrated the extent to which the country still needed the full buy-in of the Council, stressed Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Central African Republic and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), as he briefed the 15-member Council on recent developments.
Following those clashes in April and the beginning of May there had been signs of calm and peace, he said, although threats of attacks by radical elements had continued to stoke fears among the population. Such worrying rhetoric had been exploited by certain politicians who used the instability to fuel fear along ethnic or religious grounds.
The Central African Republic could not afford more clashes among armed groups seeking to pillage and exploit natural resources, he said, emphasizing that the restoration of State authority was key to stabilizing the situation in the short-term and the country at large in the long-term. To achieve that, the State Administration must become increasingly visible and effective in the interior.
Moreover, the persistent, dire humanitarian situation remained cause for concern, he said, noting that one in four Central Africans had been forced to abandon his or her home. More than 688,000 people remained internally displaced and another 568,000 were refugees in neighbouring countries, while attacks against staff from aid agencies made the Central African Republic the most dangerous place for relief workers in the world.
Bédializoun Moussa Nébié, Special Representative of the African Union to the Central African Republic, detailed the activities of the panel of facilitators that had visited the country in February and April for a second round of consultations and a resulting interim report in March. The panel had received detailed information from 14 armed groups, he said, drawing attention to the new commitment on the part of the President to consider the panel’s results.
Turning to funding needs, he said the panel intended to finalize its work in the coming weeks. There had been efforts to mobilize funds, yet a gap of $3 million remained. “Failure is not an option. The only option is the success of the dialogue and a return to peace,” he emphasized, adding that calm in the country was a necessary pre-requisite for peace.
Hermínio Teodoro Maio, Force Commander of the European Union Military Training Mission in the Central African Republic, briefing via videoconference from Bangui, said his mission’s mandate included providing strategic advice and training to the Ministry of Defense and the Central African armed forces. In that connection, the mission had completed the training and validation of 3,000 soldiers, including three infantry battalions.
Nevertheless, the crisis in the Central African Republic would not be resolved through the use of military force, he said, underlining the importance of the political negotiation process leading to national reconciliation. The commitment of the countries of the region and implementation of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process were vital.
The representative of the Central African Republic stressed that MINUSCA must be endowed with the capacity and equipment it needed to respond to and withstand the multiple situations of tension and violence that the Mission was facing. The panel of facilitators was carrying out laudable work and the country hoped the consultations under way would result in an understanding among all parties to the conflict.
Council members expressed concern about the recent clashes that had taken place in Bangui and elsewhere, detailed in the Secretary-General’s report on the situation in the Central African Republic (document S/2018/611), and called for inclusive dialogue among the parties to resolve differences peacefully.
Echoing other delegates, the representative of Poland said that the recent violence against civilians, humanitarian workers and peacekeepers had resulted in numerous causalities, hindered the peace process and compromised the country’s economic recovery.
Ethiopia’s representative said that at a recent meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa, which his Government currently chaired, participants stressed that the illegal exploitation of minerals and other resources as a tool to fund the operations of armed groups, including with the help of neighbouring countries, was an alarming development. The country needed greater attention from the Council to retain whatever progress had been achieved in the past two years.
The speaker for France agreed, stressing that the Council must fully support the President and Central African authorities as they tried to restore peace in the country, with a particular focus on helping to promote justice and disarm armed groups. The message of the Council to those group should be firm — that they had to put down their weapons and engaged in peace talks, and would face consequences for any violations.
Sweden’s representative strongly supported the African Initiative for Peace and Reconciliation in the Central African Republic and welcomed the conclusion of the second round of consultations, stressing that the African Union should continue to make advancing the Initiative a priority.
Also speaking today were the representatives of Peru, Equatorial Guinea, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Côte d’Ivoire, United States, Kuwait, Bolivia, China, Kazakhstan, and the Russian Federation.
The meeting began at 10:07 and ended at 12:12.
