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UN / CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC LACROIX
STORY: UN / CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC LACROIX
TRT: 03
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: FRENCH / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 JUNE 2020, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters
22 JUNE 2020, NEW YORK CITY
2. Multiple screens
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations:
“I am deeply concerned by continued violations of the Agreement mainly by some signatories. Our main concern at the moment are the tensions between the Government and the leader of 3R, who announced that his armed group would suspend participation in the follow-up and monitoring mechanisms of the Political Agreement and has adopted an aggressive response that does not align with his commitments. In order to preserve the viability of the Political Agreement, MINUSCA is working closely with the Guarantors and other partners, and engaging with the parties, to encourage and facilitate dialogue, while maintaining a robust posture to protect civilians and mitigate threats posed by armed groups and militias.
4. Multiple screens
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations:
“The political situation remains fragile, dominated by the preparations for the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for December 2020. Political parties are forming coalitions, increasing public statements, announcing candidacies for the presidential elections and challenging legal frameworks for the elections. However, as the report before you observes, political tensions were amplified by an attempt by a group of parliamentarians from the presidential majority to extend the tenures of the President and the National Assembly in the event that the elections cannot be held within constitutional timelines due to “unforeseen circumstances.”
6. Multiple screens
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Smail Chergui, Commissioner for Peace and Security, African Union:
“Despite progress of the political front, there has been an increase in security incidents involving some of the armed groups signatories of the peace agreement. Incidents were reported in N'délé, Bambouti, and Obo, where arms groups clashed with each other and in some instances exacerbating already existing intercommunal violence.”
8. Multiple screens
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Koen Vervaeke, Managing Director for Africa, European Union External Action Service:
“I would like to start by expressing the solidarity of the European Union in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The Central African Republic has been the first country to benefit from the humanitarian air bridge launched in May by the European Union and its member states. We’ve also reoriented our programmes to better support the authorities in their fight against the pandemic.”
10. Multiple screens
Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, today (22 Jun) said he was “deeply concerned” by continued violations of the Central African Republic (CAR) Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation by some of the signatories, as well as by “tensions between the Government and the leader of the Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation (3R) rebel group, Sidiki Abass.
Lacroix said Abass “announced that his armed group would suspend participation in the follow-up and monitoring mechanisms of the Political Agreement and has adopted an aggressive response that does not align with his commitments.”
The peacekeeping chief said the UN mission in CAR (MINUSCA) “is working closely with the Guarantors and other partners, and engaging with the parties, to encourage and facilitate dialogue, while maintaining a robust posture to protect civilians and mitigate threats posed by armed groups and militias.
The political situation, he said, “remains fragile” in the runup to the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for December 2020.
Lacroix said political parties “are forming coalitions, increasing public statements, announcing candidacies for the presidential elections and challenging legal frameworks for the elections.” However, he added, “political tensions were amplified by an attempt by a group of parliamentarians from the presidential majority to extend the tenures of the President and the National Assembly in the event that the elections cannot be held within constitutional timelines due to “unforeseen circumstances.”
This effort was rejected by the Constitutional Court on 5 June, de-escalating tensions.
Also briefing the Council, the African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smail Chergui, said “despite progress of the political front, there has been an increase in security incidents involving some of the armed groups signatories of the peace agreement.”
Incidents, he said, were reported in the N'délé, Bambouti, and Obo prefectures, “where arms groups clashed with each other and in some instances exacerbating already existing intercommunal violence.”
For his part, the European Union’s (EU) External Action Service Managing Director for Africa, Koen Vervaeke, expressed the EU’s solidarity with the CAR’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said, the Central African Republic” has been the first country to benefit from the humanitarian air bridge launched in May by the European Union and its member states” and noted the organization has also reoriented its programmes “to better support the authorities in their fight against the pandemic.”
All three briefers condemned the ambush of a joint MINUSCA and National defense forces [FACA] patrol on Sunday (21 Jun) in Nana-Mambéré prefecture by alleged 3R militias.
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