The United Nations warned the Security Council against a premature withdrawal of its peacekeepers from the Central African Republic (CAR), as the war in neighbouring Sudan spills across the border and deadly violence resurges in the country's east, UN News reported.
Source: UN News
Valentine Rugwabiza, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for CAR and head of the MINUSCA peacekeeping mission, told the Council that the resurgence comes despite the disarmament of nearly 2,000 fighters and the gradual completion of the latest electoral cycle.
As an illustration of the fragility, Rugwabiza highlighted an attack on June 30 by different armed groups on Am-Dafock, on the border with Sudan, which the UN said killed civilians and members of the national security forces, displaced 17,000 civilians and injured six UN peacekeepers.
Without MINUSCA's rapid response, she said, attacks in the border area with Chad and Sudan would have resulted in significantly more fatalities, and state authority could not have been restored after only five days of control by the armed group, whose fighters retreated across the border into Sudan.
"I plead with the council, as it prepares to renew MINUSCA's mandate, to maintain MINUSCA with adequate force levels and capabilities during the critical consolidation phase," Rugwabiza said, according to UN News.
The United States took a different emphasis at the same briefing. Ambassador Jeffrey Bartos, the US Representative for UN Management and Reform, commended progress and called on CAR authorities to accelerate security sector reform and plan a smooth transition of peacekeeping responsibilities, warning against both a hasty drawdown and the risk of a temporary mission becoming a permanent status quo, Top Africa News reported.
Source: Top Africa News — US statement at UN briefing
What is solid
- UN News reported Rugwabiza's plea to keep MINUSCA at adequate force levels as the Council prepares to renew its mandate.
- The UN said the June 30 Am-Dafock attack displaced 17,000 civilians and injured six peacekeepers.
What is only claimed
- How fast peacekeeping duties can safely pass to CAR national forces — the UN mission chief stressed consolidation first, while the US pressed for an accelerated transition.
Rugwabiza said the situation in the northeast and southeast remained particularly worrying, notably around mining sites and along corridors used by pastoral farmers — a frequent source of community tensions — as Bangui consolidates its authority and continues disarming rebel groups.