United Nations Security Council press statement on the Central African Republic (06.06.2018)

The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms all attacks, provocations and incitement to violence against Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations unies pour la stabilisation en Centrafrique (MINUSCA) by armed groups and other perpetrators.

KAMPALA, Uganda, June 6, 2018 – Security Council Press Statement on Attack against Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Central African Republic:

The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attack on 3 June 2018 by armed elements against a patrol of the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) in the village of Dilapoko (prefecture of Mambere-Kadei) in the west of the Central African Republic, which resulted in one Tanzanian peacekeeper killed and 7 others injured.

The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest condolences and sympathy to the family of the peacekeeper killed, and to those of the peacekeepers injured, as well as to Tanzania and to MINUSCA. They wished the injured a speedy recovery.

The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms all attacks, provocations and incitement to violence against MINUSCA by armed groups and other perpetrators.

The members of the Security Council reiterated that attacks against peacekeepers may constitute war crimes and reminded all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law.  They called on the Government of the Central African Republic to swiftly investigate this attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The members of the Security Council reiterated their full support for MINUSCA and expressed their deep appreciation to MINUSCA’s troop- and police-contributing countries.

The members of the Security Council reiterated their strong support for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Central African Republic, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, and for MINUSCA to assist the Central African Republic authorities and the people of the Central African Republic in their efforts to bring lasting peace and stability, as mandated by the Security Council in resolution 2387 (2017).

Central African Republic crisis ‘breaks my heart’ says senior UN aid official (29.05.2018)

The already serious humanitarian situation in Central African Republic (CAR) has worsened amid a spike in violence which threatens to overtake almost every area of the country, a top UN aid official said on Monday.

NEW YORK, United States of America, May 29, 2018 –  One in four people has been displaced, according to Najat Rochdi, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for CAR, who said that this included areas that were formerly peaceful, such as the north and central zones.

Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, Ms. Rochdi warned that severe acute malnutrition in six administrative regions is higher than 15 per cent – the emergency threshold – and infant mortality is at 18 per cent.

And amid severe funding shortages which have meant aid cut-backs, she told journalists in French: “It breaks my heart every time a child comes to me and says I’m hungry.”

Speaking later in English, she said: “Where you have kids, those little girls and little boys coming to you and looking at you and telling, ‘I’m hungry, I’m starving,’ it’s horrible, really horrible. Unfortunately the situation has worsened because we had in one year’s time an increase of 70 per cent of the internally displaced people. Meaning more children, more little girls and more little boys, meaning also that it’s a whole generation that is sacrificed because they are not going to school.”

She said it was very important to keep providing them with humanitarian assistance, which meant going beyond food distribution, beyond the access to water, beyond the access to health. “It’s just access to hope.”

Of the more than $515 million aid requirement needed in CAR for 1.9 million people, less than 20 per cent has been provided so far this year.

Fighting between the mostly Christian anti-Balaka militia and the mainly Muslim Séléka rebel coalition has plunged the CAR into civil conflict since 2012. A peace agreement was reached in January 2013, but rebels seized the capital, Bangui, in March of that year, forcing President François Bozizé to flee.

Concerned with the security, humanitarian, human rights and political crisis in the CAR and its regional implications, the Security Council authorized the deployment of a UN stabilization mission, known by its French acronym, MINUSCA, in 2014 with the protection of civilians as its utmost priority.

The humanitarian community distributed high-energy biscuits to 1,500 children and debilitated adults who suffered from starvation and thirst for more than 72 hours during an outbreak of violence in Mbomou Prefecture, Central African Republic in May 2017.

The country’s huge natural wealth – in the form of diamonds, gold and uranium – continues to fuel the fighting, Ms. Rochdi explained, adding that there was “absolutely no problem” in areas “where you don’t have that much to steal.”

The violence reached the capital, Bangui, at the beginning of the month after almost a year of relative stability.

In that incident, 70 people were killed in clashes between security forces and armed militia, and thousands were displaced.

Ms. Rochdi said that UN troops had to intervene after Muslims were denied healthcare access.

The town of Bambari has also seen armed groups return, despite becoming a “safe haven for all communities” since last year, the UN official added.

The militia aimed to put pressure on the government to grant them an amnesty but this would be a “disaster” for the country, Ms. Rochdi insisted, before adding that efforts to prevent impunity had been stepped up and had resulted in a Special Criminal Court, which is due to start work in CAR next week.

Some of its “first clients” would be “high-profile leaders of armed groups,” Ms. Rochdi said, adding that CAR was one of the most dangerous places on earth for humanitarians, with six people killed this year and attacks on aid workers and looting happening on a “regular” basis.

Yet despite the instability and fact that funding levels in 2017 were only 40 per cent of what was requested, she maintained that it still made a substantial difference on the ground and had helped to prepare communities to withstand future shocks too.

It meant that more than one million people had access to water, that 7,000 tonnes of humanitarian assistance were delivered and more than 60,000 children were given an education.

In addition, the aid ensured that more than 70,000 farming families received a vital seed allocation, helping them to become more self-sufficient.

More than 17,000 children from six to 59 months suffering from severe acute malnutrition were also given support.

The most important thing was that the people of CAR had some sense that they had a future, Mrs Rochdi said, adding that humanitarian assistance “is making the difference between life and death”.

Aid is also “the best way for all of us to sustain peace in CAR”, she added, since the funding gave communities hope.

Joint Communiqué of the African Union and the United Nations on the Peace Process and the Situation in Bangui (12.04.2018)

BANGUI, Central African Republic, April 12, 2018 –

Joint Communiqué of the African Union and the United Nations on the Peace Process and the Situation in Bangui:

We, representatives of the African Union and the United Nations, decided to undertake a joint visit to the Central African Republic (CAR) to express our solidarity and full support to the Central African people and for the peace process in the Central African Republic. We also share a message of complete unity and common resolve of the African Union and the United Nations.

We are pleased in this regard that our visit coincides with the first meeting in Bangui of the International Support Group for CAR since the country’s return to constitutional order. During our visit, we will have the opportunity to talk with the Central African authorities, and have also held talks with President Touadéra.

Having arrived yesterday, we are also concerned about persistent tensions in the PK5 neighbourhood of Bangui. The operations conducted by the Government and MINUSCA on 8 April were aimed at putting an end to the activities of criminal elements that endanger the lives of peaceful citizens, in a neighbourhood that is also the economic hub of Bangui.

In these difficult times, we wish to express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and we deplore the many wounded, to whom we wish a speedy recovery.

Above all, we wish to emphasize that this operation to restore order and State authority has the sole purpose to protect the people who seek our protection against the criminal elements who oppress them. We want to make it clear that we are determined to act to protect the entire population, across the country.

We strongly deplore and condemn the attempts to instrumentalise this operation, as well as the attacks perpetrated against peacekeepers, about 20 of whom have been wounded, and one who succumbed to his wounds.

We would like to remind you that any attack against peacekeepers is a war crime. Their authors and those who support them will certainly have to answer for their crimes in court.

We also wish to express that an offer of a peaceful settlement had previously been made to the targeted groups, who rejected it.

Finally, we wish to emphasize that, in close coordination with the Government of the Central African Republic, we are ready to use all means available to the international community to create conditions for the restoration of peace in CAR. Among these means, dialogue will be our first action followed by, if necessary, the use of force.

Our joint presence here, in collaboration with the Central African Government, is intended to reaffirm our unambiguous commitment to the African Initiative for Peace and Reconciliation in CAR, which, as the United Nations Security Council has stated, represents the only way forward to exit from crisis.

To the people of Bangui, we also call for calm. We ask them not to be victim to rumours and manipulation. Your authorities are working hard with MINUSCA to restore public order and ensure the protection of all civilian populations, without distinction.

Signed,

Mr Smaïl Chergui
Peace and Security Commissioner of the African Union

Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

UPDF Disengages from the Central African Republic (19.04.2017)

President Nkurunziza proves to the world that he has the Big-Man complex!

“Although African villages are often models of democracy, the concentration of power at higher levels across much of the continent feeds the cult of personality and one-man rule” (Chicago Tribune, 2000 – link: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-08-28/news/0008280177_1_nigeria-transition-from-military-rule-president-olusegun-obasanjo)

Burundian government are really trying to show strength to their donors and within the foreign affairs. There reports that the Burundian Government thinking of leaving the AMISOM mission because of lacking funds from the European Union to their brigades in the Somalia Peacekeeping mission. Have you heard this before? Yes you have, they have come with the same sort of words when coming to the peacekeeping mission in the MINUSCA in the Central African Republic.

“If there is no payment by January, Burundi will recall the more than 5,400 troops from the 22,000-strong regional force protecting Somalia’s weak government from al-Shabab extremist attacks, President Pierre Nkurunziza said” (…) “Burundi’s troops have not been paid allowances for 11 months amid a standoff between Burundi’s government and the EU after the EU accused Burundian authorities of human rights abuses” (New York Times, 30.12.2016).

The Burundian Peacekeepers have come under fire of late, with their neglect and their also past-history as human rights violation at home has come to surface. Therefore the European Union doesn’t want to pay and submit funds to a draconian government that let people vanish, tortured or assassinated. That is within doubt a noble quest, but still hard when the EU doesn’t want to commit to settle battle-torn areas of Central African Republic and the Federal Republic of Somalia.

Because as this action happens as the troublesome Inclusive Inter-Burundian Dialogue is stalled by their questioning of chief negotiator H.E. William Mpaka, the term of President Nkurunziza happens without questions as the Police and even Youth Party Members Imbonerakure are taking away men and woman who has “insulted the President”. That is the law now. So the dialogue between the fractions behind in Burundi where the Opposition is under leach, as it has been since the start of Nkurunziza’s third term. While he today has claimed it is the International Community and the International Mining Corporations fault for the troubles in his country.

Nkurunziza said this today at his press conference:

“The crisis of 2015 was just related to the stakes around the minerals in Burundi. The mandate was just a pretext” (…) “Burundi has given the Waga-Nyabikere mines to the AMS consortium, with Europeans and Americans. But it was not enough” (…) “The Western powers behind the Burundi crisis in 2015 wanted to have the Musongati mining deposit” (…) “With this mining deposit of Musongati, it is not coltan that counts more. But iron and plutonium”(www.bujumburanewsblog.wordpress.com, 30.12.2016).

There might be some who would see it like this, others would say that he countered the constitution and used the courts to run for a sham election, that he won as the intimidation and the spark of violence erupted. There we’re no run for the mill for the mines or international community discussing the values of deposits except for the minor companies’ deals to the Government of Burundi. This is a valid display of trying to wash their hands of blood and blame others. A common strategy of the ones who are sanctioning the acts of atrocities, it isn’t new, it’s like saying it isn’t the drunk driving that is the cause, but the car-manufacture who didn’t have a alcohol lock on the door. The same is what the Burundian President trying to do.

He is blaming the European Union for their non-direct payment to his Government for the provided services in AMISOM mission, as they are trying to shift the funds directly and pay directly to the soldiers. That gives way for the Government to not handle the monies and the EU funds. So they cannot withhold or embezzle funds to other projects as the non-transparent entity of CNDD-FDD; who runs the country with machetes and violence.

Just as you thought that was enough the President continue to put blame on others:

“Kigali : This morning, during a public issue in the province of Rutana (South-East of Burundi), the President of the Republic of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, took it out in Rwanda” (…) “According to SOS Médias Burundi, President Pierre Nkurunziza said that the “Burundi has never represented a threat to the security of Rwanda” and has “called the Rwandans to stop disrupting the safety in Burundi.” (Rwanda News Agency, 30.12.2016).

Early in 2016 the authorities of Burundi claimed that Rwandese guerrillas we’re trained in Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo we’re coming in 2015 to have a coup d’état to oust President Nkurunziza. This was dined by the Rwandan Government at the time and they also offered to expel the Burundian Refugees if this sentiment continued. Still, after all that and a month after Nkurunziza continues to blame the Rwandese for interference. As even close connected to the government have had to flee.

We can now see that President Nkurunziza tries to show power and be grand. Be big and ambitious; try to show the European Union and the neighbours to show that he is the man. As his reputation and his holding abroad is shrinking as much as the donors and funds are also becoming meagre.

Nkurunziza is under-fire and righteously so after the fraudulent attempt of controlling the republic and taking a third term. Now he is speaking of a fourth term with ease and saying if “people want me too”. Just like he learned from President Museveni and others who has done the same trick; because they think with fear they can install themselves forever in power.

Even if he pulls the Burundian brigades from AMISOM and MUNISCA he still needs foreign exchange and other donor funds. The concern for the Nkurunziza should be to mend the fences and try to be nice, but that isn’t his character as he uses youths to scare the population and take the people who doesn’t follow his party line. Therefore people are fleeing and staying in refugee camps in Rwanda, Tanzania and the DRC.

The world shouldn’t give in to the threats of Nkurunziza as he thinks he can outsmart the AMISOM. The Big-Man complex comes to the surface and also to world. That he is the one-man to rule and to control the republic without interference. If the world is getting involved it has to be on his accord. Not on somebody else, it’s his watch and his words that matters. That the EU is trying to avoid paying the government is a disgrace to Nkurunziza and that Kagame is threat is known. So the response should be with caution and with knowledge of this. The International Community should be worried and know that CNDD-FDD are not a democratic party, but a front for a centralized and militarized government who only cares for ruler, that he can rule by all means. Peace.  

Note to Correspondents on the investigations into allegations ‎of sexual exploitation and abuse against peacekeepers deployed in the Central African Republic (05.12.2016)

The Office of Internal Oversight Services has concluded its investigative process on the allegations ‎of sexual exploitation and abuse against Burundian and Gabonese contingents deployed in Dekoa, Kemo prefecture, in the Central African Republic. 

These allegations referred to incidents between 2014 and 2015. OIOS has conducted joint investigations with Burundian and Gabonese national investigative officers. Investigations started in April 2016, a few days after the allegations were brought to the attention of the United Nations and lasted for more than four months. The investigators relied primarily on the testimony of possible victims and witnesses given the lack of medical, forensic or any other physical evidence. This was due to the fact that the majority of the allegations referred to incidents that took place a year or more earlier. Everyone who came forward with claims, both minors and adults, were assisted by national and international partners.

Overall, 139 possible victims were interviewed and their accounts were investigated. By means of photo array and/or other corroborating evidence a total of 41 alleged perpetrators (16 from Gabon and 25 from Burundi) were identified by 45 interviewees; eight persons were unable to identify perpetrators through photo array or other corroborating evidence but were able to describe some distinctive traits; 83 were not able to identify perpetrators or provide corroborating evidence; and three accounts were considered unreliable. A total of 25 minors asserted they had been sexually abused. A total of eight paternity claims were filed, including by six minors.

The United Nations has shared the OIOS report with both Member States, including the names of the identified alleged perpetrators and has requested for appropriate judicial actions to ensure criminal accountability.

Responsibility for further investigations lies with Burundi and Gabon. The United Nations has requested from the Burundian and Gabonese authorities that they review the OIOS findings and conduct the interviews of the alleged perpetrators who had all been rotated out from Central African Republic before the allegations surfaced. The United Nations has asked for a copy of the final national investigation reports to be transmitted urgently.
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The alleged perpetrators, if allegations against them are substantiated, and, if warranted, their commanding officers, will not be accepted again for deployment in peacekeeping operations.

MINUSCA has strengthened its prevention measures and reinforced its outreach among communities and peacekeepers across the country, especially in high-risk areas to improve awareness and reporting on sexual exploitation and abuse and other forms of misconduct. The Mission is also regularly monitoring conditions and behaviour of mission’s personnel and has partnered with United Nations agencies and implementing partners in Central African Republic that provide psychosocial, medical and legal assistance to victims of sexual exploitation and abuse.

The United Nations condemns, in the strongest terms, all acts of sexual exploitation and abuse committed by peacekeepers or any other UN personnel and will maintain follow up so that perpetrators of these abhorrent acts are brought to justice.

Leaked U.N. E-Mails: Show’s proof of new cases of Sexual Exploitations by the DRC Battalion under the MINUSCA mandate in C.A.R.

As Delivered: UN Assistant Secretary-General Kwang-Wha Kang remarks to the EU Pledging Conference on the Central African Republic (Brussels – 26.05.2015)