“Don’t forget us” CAR president’s plea to UN

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The president of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera, on Tuesday pleaded with the world not to forget his country and urged the UN to bolster its peacekeeping force amid growing violence.

Thousands have been killed and a fifth of Central Africans fled conflict that started after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize in 2013, provoking a backlash from Christian anti-balaka (anti-machete) militias.

Unrest has since subsided, fighting spiked this year and the United Nations warned ethnic fighting could again escalate into a much larger conflict if combatants are not disarmed.
“Central Africa is at a critical moment in its history. We need the support of our friends; there are risks we’ll be forgotten,” Touadera told a news conference ahead of a high-level meeting at the UN General Assembly.

Violence escalated after former colonial power France last year ended its peacekeeping mission in the country, which once had as many as 2,000 soldiers. France is concerned by events, although officials say Paris is unlikely to return to Central Africa unless the capital comes under threat.

Violence continues despite a peace deal signed between government and rival factions in Rome last month and a 13,000-strong UN mission (MINUSCA), which will see its mandate renewed in November.
“The only force capable of ensuring security is the United Nations,” Touadera said. “The capacities of MINUSCA in terms of men and equipment have to be strengthened.”

National security forces are too weak to tackle a multitude of armed groups and counter the spill-over from conflicts in neighbouring countries. Diplomats also said Touadera does not have the political strength to impose central government rule.

Touadera bemoaned the departure of France’s Operation Sangaris and the withdrawal of about 2,000 American and Ugandan forces fighting the Ugandan rebel group The Lord’s Resistance Army as well as the withdrawal of MINUSCA’s Congolese battalion in the west.
“All of this has created a vacuum that the MINUSCA must fill,” he said.