Central African Republic

Today, Paulo Soares was appointed head of mission for the new European Union Advisory Mission in the Central African Republic (EUAM RCA). This mission was established by the Council on 9 December 2019 and is expected to be launched in the spring of 2020. Paulo Soares, a Portuguese national, is currently Head of Interoperability Cell of the military EU Training Mission in the Central African Republic (EUTM RCA).

The International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed charges against two men suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Central African Republic (CAR).

The Council established a European Union CSDP civilian advisory mission in the Central African Republic (EUAM RCA). The mission will be launched by the Council no later than in the spring of 2020. … In a phased, scalable and modular approach, EUAM RCA will provide advice to the CAR authorities at the strategic level to support the sustainable transformation of CAR internal security forces into a coherent and accountable security provider operating under national ownership.

[…] From June–August 2019, a team of the Effectiveness in Peace Operations Network (EPON) studied the mission to assess its effectiveness. … EPON studies contain three basic parts: a context analysis, an identification of mission effects, and an assessment of six explanatory factors. This brief summary of the team’s conclusions proceeds in line with this three-part structure.

The Council adopted a crisis management concept for a new civilian CSDP Advisory Mission in the Central African Republic (EUAM RCA). The mission will support the reform of the internal security forces to enable the CAR authorities to mitigate the current security challenges in the country. EU experts will support the Ministry of the Interior and the internal security forces, the police and the gendarmerie, with the aim of helping in their deployment throughout the country.

The Security Council today decided unanimously to extend the mandate of its Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic for one year, outlining a range of priority tasks, including supporting the country’s Peace Agreement, preparing for elections and protecting civilians amid continued attacks by armed groups.

By the terms of resolution 2499 (2019), adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, the 15 nation Council decided to renew the mandate … MINUSCA until 15 November 2020. It also decided to maintain the Mission’s current troop levels of 11,650 military personnel and 2,080 police personnel.

In two days, on 14 November, the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) will be renewed, as will the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), next month. Both operations aim to strengthen the role of the state in the provision of security and justice. This is in line with what populations desire, according to a new series of reports from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Catholic Organization for Relief and Development Aid (Cordaid) on securing legitimate stability in the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

After nearly 100 women and girls in Central African Republic accused Burundian and Gabonese peacekeepers of rape, sexual abuse, and exploitation, the UN deployed investigators to the country in 2016. … Now, a 50-page internal UN report, marked “confidential draft” and obtained by The New Humanitarian from a former UN staffer concerned over the review’s findings, details blunders in the investigations and lays out how women and girls – as well as UN investigators – were let down in the process.

Central African Republic is considering hosting a Russian military base and would like Moscow to supply it with weapons RIA news agency cited the country’s president as saying.