Central African Republic

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.

Updating the Security Council on the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) on Friday, the head of the UN Mission in the country, MINUSCA, called on the country’s friends and partners, including the Council, to “transform the dreams of peace, prosperity and development of millions of Central Africans into a lasting reality”.

[…] In this context, the International Peace Institute (IPI), the Stimson Center, and Security Council Report organized a workshop on September 10, 2019, to discuss MINUSCA’s mandate and political strategy. The discussion was intended to help the Security Council make informed decisions with respect to the strategic orientation, prioritization, and sequencing of the mission’s mandate ahead of its renewal in November 2019.

[…] Since 2016, some positive results have been achieved. … However, further violence has not been prevented, impunity remains widespread, and the expectations of Central Africans on justice have fallen. Nevertheless, the window of opportunity is not entirely closed. There are still important measures that can address past abuses within the peace and development framework of the 2030 Agenda and reduce the justice gap in CAR.

Renewed clashes between two armed groups in Birao raise doubts about sustainability of peace deal signed in February.

The UN Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to ease the arms embargo on the Central African Republic, where the government signed a peace deal with 14 armed groups. The French-drafted resolution said there is an “urgent need for the CAR authorities to train and equip their defense and security forces to be able to respond proportionately to threats to the security of all citizens.”