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STORY: UN / CENTRAL AFRICAN REGION
TRT: 04:58
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / FRENCH / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 09 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, exterior, United Nations flag outside UN Headquarters
09 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Wide shot, Assistant Secretary-General Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee addressing Council
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political
and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“The main subregional organisation, the Economic Community of Central African States, occurs, has shown encouraging signs of its deep commitment to sustaining peace in the subregion. Yet these achievements have unfolded against a troubling backdrop. This includes the deepening multidimensional security and humanitarian crises, socio economic pressures and, most worryingly, restrictions to civil and political rights have increased.”
5. Wide shot, Pobee addressing Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political
and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“Security remains a key concern in several countries of the subregion. Two fulcrums of instability stand out in Central Africa, Eastern Chad, and the Lake Chad region. With the conflict in the Sudan in its fourth year, its direct impact on Chad cannot be overemphasised. The influx of over 900,000 Sudanese refugees and 300,000 Chadian returnees, including over 800,000 children since April 2023, has placed a significant strain on national resources. It has undermined social cohesion in Chad's eastern provinces, exacerbating an already severe humanitarian crisis.”
7. Various shots, Council
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political
and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“In the Lake Chad Basin, civilians in Cameroon and Chad continue to suffer indiscriminate attacks and human rights abuses by the various Boko Haram affiliated and splinter groups. The persistence of those groups stems from their ability to operate across borders, exploiting the limited presence of state authorities and services in those areas. The Multinational Joint Task Force remains an essential cross regional mechanism to combat the violent extremist threat in the Lake Chad Basin.”
9. Wide shot, Pobee addressing Council
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political
and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“There is a worrying trend of increasing restrictions on civil and political rights in several parts of Central Africa. If not reversed, these could contribute to a narrowing civic space, affecting long term stability and leading to conflict.”
11. Med shot, Congolese Ambassador Zenon Mukongo Ngay addressing Council
12. SOUNDBITE (French) Zenon Mukongo Ngay, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Democratic Republic of the Congo:
“We remain deeply concerned by the continued threat from terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin. The recent attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram and affiliated groups in Cameroon and Chad show us that these groups continue presenting a serious threat for the civilian population, the authority of states and regional stability. We welcome the constant commitment showed by the countries of the region to combat this threat and reaffirm our support to the Multinational Joint Task Force.”
13. Wide shot, end of Council meeting
14. Wide shot, group of ambassadors at the stakeout podium
15. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Leonor Zalabata, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Colombia:
“Recent trends are profoundly worrying. Between December 2025 and March 2026, the Central African region recorded higher-than-average temperatures, as well as irregular rainfall, with a decrease in rainfall that intensified pressure on water availability, grasslands, and rural livelihoods. These pressures are fuelling local tensions and contributing to lethal violence between farmers and herders, as well as inter-community violence or incidents reported in Cameroon and Chad.”
16. Wide shot, ambassadors at the podium
17. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Leonor Zalabata, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Colombia:
“Humanitarian needs remain severe, as the combined effects of conflict, displacement, food insecurity and climate shocks are straining already limited response capacities across the subregion.”
18. Pan right, ambassadors walk away
Assistant Secretary-General Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee today (9 Jun) told the Security Council that the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) has shown “encouraging signs” in its peace efforts in the subregion, yet “deepening multidimensional security and humanitarian crises, socio economic pressures and, most worryingly, restrictions to civil and political rights have increased.”
Pobee said, “two fulcrums of instability stand out in Central Africa, Eastern Chad and the Lake Chad region,” and noted that “with the conflict in the Sudan in its fourth year, its direct impact on Chad cannot be overemphasised.”
She said, “the influx of over 900,000 Sudanese refugees and 300,000 Chadian returnees, including over 800,000 children since April 2023, has placed a significant strain on national resources,” and has “undermined social cohesion in Chad's eastern provinces, exacerbating an already severe humanitarian crisis.
Civilians in Cameroon and Chad, Pobee said, “continue to suffer indiscriminate attacks and human rights abuses by the various Boko Haram affiliated and splinter groups,” as they are “exploiting the limited presence of state authorities and services in those areas.”
The Multinational Joint Task Force, she said, “remains an essential cross regional mechanism to combat the violent extremist threat in the Lake Chad Basin.”
The political affairs and peacebuilding official said, “there is a worrying trend of increasing restrictions on civil and political rights in several parts of Central Africa,” warning that “if not reversed, these could contribute to a narrowing civic space, affecting long term stability and leading to conflict.”
Congolese ambassador Zenon Mukongo Ngay expressed deep concerned at “the continued threat from terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin,” and said, the recent attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram and affiliated groups in Cameroon and Chad “show us that these groups continue presenting a serious threat for the civilian population, the authority of states and regional stability.”
Ngay welcomed “the constant commitment showed by the countries of the region to combat this threat and reaffirm our support to the Multinational Joint Task Force.”
Outside the Council, the President of the Council, Colombian Ambassador Leonor Zalabata, joined by representatives of the signatories of the Joint Pledges related to Climate, Peace and Security on Central Africa, said, “recent trends are profoundly worrying. Between December 2025 and March 2026, the Central African region recorded higher-than-average temperatures, as well as irregular rainfall, with a decrease in rainfall that intensified pressure on water availability, grasslands, and rural livelihoods. These pressures are fuelling local tensions and contributing to lethal violence between farmers and herders, as well as inter-community violence or incidents reported in Cameroon and Chad.”
Zalabata said, “humanitarian needs remain severe, as the combined effects of conflict, displacement, food insecurity and climate shocks are straining already limited response capacities across the subregion.”
