Central African Republic

The new United Nations envoy to the Central African Republic Wednesday called for the “readjustment” of a UN peacekeeping force towards protecting civilians from abuse from all sides in the conflict.

The Cameroon-headquartered Bank of Central African States (BEAC) has urged the Central African Republic (CAR) to annul a law it passed in late April that made the cryptocurrency Bitcoin legal tender. The bank warned in a letter made public last week that the move breached its rules and could affect monetary stability in the region.

"Russian-identified forces" may have committed grave abuses against civilians in the Central African Republic, Human Rights Watch has said in a new report.

The Central African Republic (CAR) has approved Bitcoin as legal tender - just the second country to do so. … The country currently uses the French-backed CFA franc as its currency, along with most other former French colonies in Africa. Some see the adoption of Bitcoin as an attempt to undermine the CFA, amid a contest for influence over the resource-rich country between Russia and France.

Denise Brown, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the CAR, was deeply shocked and dismayed by the attacks, which occurred on 7 and 9 April. Six aid workers and a health district worker were injured, one seriously.  

A new report on the human rights situation in the Central African Republic says combating impunity is key to achieving national reconciliation and a durable peace in the war-torn country. The report from a U.N. investigator was submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday.

Mokom, ex-leader of an Anti-balaka militia, is suspected of war crimes committed in 2013 and 2014. … In 2019, he became the country’s minister for disarmament and demobilisation.

The Central African Republic on Thursday released four French soldiers in the United Nations' peacekeeping force in the CAR, whose arrest sparked condemnation from the UN, the mission said. 

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Valentine Rugwabiza of Rwanda as his new Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

Local elections in the Central African Republic (CAR), which have been pending since 1988 and are slated for September, will deepen efforts to decentralize power and expand political space, the UN envoy for the country told the Security Council on Tuesday, encouraging the new Government to “deploy all possible efforts” to calm the political climate.