Central African Republic

A UN peacekeeper from Rwanda was killed and two others were wounded in a deadly attack in the Central African Republic on Monday. The blue helmets from the UN mission in the country, MINUSCA, were in a convoy in Gedze, Nana-Mambéré prefecture, located in the northwest.

The Central African Republic (CAR) is making progress as it prepares for presidential and legislative elections in December, but the political situation is still fragile - and security conditions volatile - amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Monday. …

[…] The Special Criminal Court was created by law on 3 June 2015. It is a "hybrid" tribunal that has jurisdiction over grave human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law committed since 2003. Its inaugural session was held in October 2018. According to the latest publicly available information, there are currently eight cases in which the investigation is closed, eight cases under investigation and about 15 cases under preliminary examination.

Nine fighters from an armed group that launched a week-long attack last week in south-eastern Central African Republic have been arrested. The assailants belong to a branch of the CAR’s biggest armed group, the Unity for Peace in Central Africa (UPC), the country’s special criminal court said in a statement on Monday.

Militia clashes this week in Central African Republic left at least 25 people dead and 51 injured, the country’s communications minister said, confirming the latest violence to undermine last year’s peace deal between rebel groups and the government. … Political tensions are meanwhile rising in the country ahead of presidential elections slated for December but which may be pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions on Central African Republic rebel leader Abdoulaye Miskine, who last year signed a peace agreement between the government and armed groups. Miskine, founder and head of the Democratic Front of the Central African People (FDPC), was offered a government position under the terms of the February 2019 accord signed in Khartoum. However, in the last report by U.N. experts monitoring sanctions and an arms embargo imposed in 2013, the self-proclaimed general was mentioned as looking for fighters.

A senior United Nations official has welcomed the move by lawmakers in the Central African Republic (CAR) to criminalize child recruitment. The National Assembly in CAR recently adopted the Child Protection Code, which criminalizes the recruitment and use of children, among other crimes.

A United Nations peacekeeper from Burundi was killed on Sunday while attempting to stop an armed militant attack in the Central African Republic (CAR), according to a statement released by the UN Mission in the country, MINUSCA.

A February 2019 agreement is the latest in a string of attempts to bring peace to the Central African Republic. Will it hold? Crisis Group expert Hans de Marie Heungoup goes to the country to find out.