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Central African Republic - Security Council Open VTC
The Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) appealed, during a videoconference meeting of the Security Council today, for the deployment of more peacekeepers in response to an upsurge in violence in the wake of presidential and legislative elections on 27 December.
“The situation is tense on the ground and the wave of violence that preceded the elections is continuing,” said Mankeur Ndiaye, who is also the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Central African Republic. He emphasized that seven “Blue Helmets” have been killed in the past four weeks, including, most recently, two on 18 January in an ambush outside Bangassou city. That was the same day on which the Constitutional Court validated the re-election of President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, he said, noting that a coalition of armed groups and political allies including former President François Bozizé are violently challenging the outcome.
The deployment of reinforcements from the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) lifted morale among MINUSCA personnel, he said, while cautioning that some armed groups appear to be increasingly aggressive and human rights violations are continuing, testing the Mission’s capacities. “We need a strategy to manage the mandate,” he emphasized, requesting a substantial increase of both troops and police officers in the framework of inter-mission cooperation. If the Mission fails to get more personnel, it will do what it can, in a country where the Government has no control over some areas, he said. However, peacekeepers now are deployed over a very wide area, with a limited ability to act robustly due to a lack of drones, attack helicopters and special forces. MINUSCA’s police component is equally overwhelmed, he said, adding that the overcrowding of prisons due to prolonged tensions is a serious issue that requires the training of additional prison staff.
Underscoring the need to restore State authority and, in turn, lower the threat posed by armed groups, he urged the international community, the United Nations and international partners to support good governance and reconstruction. The citizens of the Central African Republic demonstrated their resilience by turning out for the 27 December elections, but there is now a danger of their country backsliding when it should be on the road to peacebuilding, he cautioned.
In the ensuing debate, Council members, noting that today’s meeting was requested by the Government of the Central African Republic, condemned attacks on United Nations peacekeepers and expressed condolences to the families of fallen “blue helmets”. Many urged parties to the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in the Central African Republic to abide by their commitments under that 2019 pact, signed in Bangui on 6 February 2019. Several also commented on the Government’s request that the Council ease the arms embargo that it imposed in 2013.
[Unanimously adopting resolution 2552 (2020) under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, on 12 November, the Council maintained MINUSCA’s current troop levels of 11,650 military and 2,080 police personnel as well as its strategic objective of creating the political, security and institutional conditions conducive to sustainably reduce the presence of armed groups and the threat they pose. See Press Release SC/14356.]
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