UN envoy meets with President of Central African Republic on new force

The United Nations’ top envoy for Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) has consulted with CAR President François Bozizé on deployment of an innovative peacekeeping mission in the two countries, a UN spokesperson said today.

The UN mission, known as MINURCAT, was set up by the Security Council last September to help protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid to thousands of people uprooted due to insecurity in the northeast of the CAR and eastern Chad and in the neighbouring Darfur region of Sudan.

It is a multidimensional operation supported by European Union military forces and comprising 300 police and 50 military liaison officers, as well as civilian staff, focusing on the areas of civil affairs, human rights and the rule of law.

Visiting CAR’s capital, Bangui, yesterday, Victor Da Silva Angelo, Special Representative of Secretary-General in Chad and the CAR, told President Bozizé that MINURCAT and the EU force are “twin sisters that are intimately linked by the nature of their work and are, in fact, complementary.”

While the EU Force provides a security umbrella, he said, the UN Mission trains those tasked with protecting refugees and the internally displaced inside UN-run camps.

Earlier this week, Mr. Angelo signed a status of mission agreement, setting up the legal basis for MINURCAT’s operations, with authorities in Chad.