Central African Republic: UN reports security deterioration

Security in the Central African Republic (CAR) has deteriorated over the past two months, especially in the north and along the borders with Chad and the Sudan, according to the latest United Nations report on the impoverished country where humanitarian agencies are struggling to reach up to 1 million people affected by violence.

The report points to a climate of tension between Sudan, Chad and the CAR “that is not propitious to a rapprochement.”

But it also finds positive signs amid the instability. The military and political crisis in CAR has brought together various factions “to defend the Republic and the country’s territorial integrity.”

The 28 December report to the Security Council by outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s was his final update on CAR before handing over the reins of the UN to his successor, Ban Ki-moon. In it, he cites general consensus “in favour of dialogue as a means to overcome differences and consolidate peace.”

North-western CAR has been beset by rebel groups who seek to overthrow the regime of President François Bozizé and the situation has been compounded by a spill-over of the civil war from Sudan’s Darfur region, where over three years of fighting between the Government, allied militias and rebel forces have killed more than 200,000 people and uprooted some 2.5 million others.

The report calls for speeding up the restructuring of the national defence and security forces seeking support from the international community for an extension of the Multinational Force of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (FOMUC) beyond 30 June.

“I welcome the efforts of the Security Council to help restore security along the Central African-Sudanese border,” Mr. Annan wrote in the report. “I continue to believe that a parallel process of strengthening national democratic institutions and promoting an inclusive dialogue could relieve the current tensions within the country,” he added.

“For its part, the United Nations will remain active on behalf of the country. By harmonizing our efforts we can combat effectively the insecurity and political instability and the resulting humanitarian consequences, which gravely threaten the stability of the Central African Republic’s neighbours and of Central Africa in general,” he concluded.

The UN Peacebuilding Support Office in CAR, set up in 2000, has a mandate running through the end of this year which includes supporting national reconciliation, strengthening democracy and promoting good governance.