Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoSecurity Council
8421st Security Council Meeting: Situation in Central Africa
Central and West African countries must develop strategies with which to tackle the root causes of insurgency, the senior United Nations official in the region told the Security Council today as it considered the activities of the United Nations regional office.
François Louncény Fall, Special Representative of the Secretary‑General and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), warned that a security vacuum would enable the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to step up its activities, noting also the threat posed by the indiscriminate attacks launched by Boko Haram.
Highlighting the positive example of São Tomé and Príncipe, he said the commitment of all stakeholders to resolve their differences through constitutional mechanisms led to the inauguration of the National Assembly. In addition, the situation in Gabon remains calm after the legislative and local elections held in October, he noted. He went on to encourage the authorities in Chad to organize overdue elections, while also expressing concern over the violence and human rights violations in Cameroon’s north-west and south-west regions. He encouraged that country’s Government to address the root causes of the crisis, including through accelerated decentralization.
Also briefing was Reena Ghelani, Director of the Operations and Advocacy Division in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), who also cited Cameroon, reporting that its south-west and north-west regions are witnessing one of the fastest‑growing displacement crises in Africa. Several of the humanitarian crises in Central Africa, many of them rooted in armed conflicts, have only intensified in the past six months. The worsening situation in the Central African Republic has had a significant impact on neighbouring countries, she added. She went on to point out that Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger are also affected by the crisis involving Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin, where girls remain at risk of kidnapping. With climate change and population growth adding to this vulnerability, the number of individuals in need of humanitarian assistance and protection will increase by 22 per cent in 2019, she continued. Lamenting severe underfunding of humanitarian efforts, she said that in 2018, every single humanitarian response plan in Central Africa was funded at less than the global average.
The representative of the United States, noting that October was Cameroon’s most violent month in recent times, emphasized that the crisis is distracting from security efforts in the Lake Chad Basin. He called upon the Government to ensure unobstructed access to United Nations agencies and humanitarian workers, stressing that the stakes are too high and that a peaceful Cameroon is crucial to stability in Central Africa.
However, the Russian Federation’s representative cautioned against hasty decisions, describing the information regarding Cameroon as contradictory. It is important not to breach the line between prevention and intervention, he emphasized, underlining that the heart of effective crisis prevention in Africa lies in a combination of African leadership and international support.
Côte d’Ivoire’s representative recalled that Lake Chad was once a source of life but is now a source of tremendous problems. He went on to highlight the importance of national dialogue in the Central African Republic and of tackling the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Also pointing to the threat posed by Boko Haram to children and women in Cameroon, Chad and Niger, he praised UNOCA’s work in a region “dear to the heart of Africans”.
Equatorial Guinea’s representative cited the havoc wreaked by mercenary activities, the unbridled circulation of small arms and light weapons and weak institutions, encouraging UNOCA to foster cooperation among neighbouring countries.
Also speaking were representatives of the United Kingdom, Sweden, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Bolivia, France, China and Kazakhstan.
The meeting started at 10:24 a.m. and ended at 12:28 p.m.
For further details please see:
MEETINGS COVERAGE AND PRESS RELEASES
