STATEMENT BY VALENTINE RUGWABIZA, SPECIAL REREPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFING ON MINUSCA
New York
21 FEBRUARY 2024
I would like to congratulate Guyana on assuming the presidency of the Security Council for the month of February. I am honoured to present the most recent report (S/2024/170) of the Secretary-General on the Central African Republic and to update members on recent developments in the country and the implementation of the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
On 6 February, a special session of the Executive Monitoring Committee for the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in the Central African Republic was convened and chaired by His Excellency President Touadera to mark the fifth anniversary of the signing of the agreement. The session took stock of the overall progress made in the implementation of the mutualized Political Agreement and the Luanda road map and witnessed an important mobilization of national, regional and international stakeholders, including agreement guarantors and facilitators. The session appreciated the support extended by the international community, while calling for additional support for the implementation of the remaining commitments and continuous support to the decentralization of the peace process.
Speaking on behalf of all facilitators and guarantors, the Economic Community of Central African States Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security commended the achievements secured through the implementation of the mutualized peace process, including the self-dissolution of nine armed groups, and the retention of former leaders of armed groups in the current Government. In addition, the Commissioner called on remaining original signatories to the Political Agreement to rejoin the peace and political process, while commending the critical support provided by MINUSCA for the effective decentralization of the implementation of the agreement.
A little more than a month ago, on 15 January, a MINUSCA patrol hit an explosive ordnance device while returning from escorting humanitarian workers delivering assistance to Nzakoundou, a village in the western region of the Central African Republic that was recently the epicentre of an attack by suspected elements of the Retour, réclamation et réhabilitation armed group. The explosion killed Steve Emmanuel Atebele, from the Cameroon contingent, and injured five of his companions. Soldier Atebele was 30 years old and a father. I express my condolences and those of the entire staff of MINUSCA to the family of the deceased and to the Government of Cameroon.
The tragic death of this young peacekeeper, which comes against the backdrop of similar incidents in the past few months, must give cause for expediency in the handling of threats posed to peacekeepers by explosive ordnance devices and calls for appropriate responses. It is critically important that we understand the sources and origins of such devices through the application of proper intelligence-gathering and, equally, pursuing cross-border cooperation to stem the tide of the flow of weapons across boundaries into the territory of the Central African Republic. Furthermore, countries in the region need to scale up cooperation towards effective border management and control to stem the proliferation of those weapons.
Explosive ordnance devices and light weapons are not only a threat to the population and peacekeepers, but are equally the most serious constraint to the delivery of humanitarian assistance in the western region, where 50 per cent of the Central African population lives. I therefore wish to request the Council’s support for an urgent, dedicated and truly multidimensional response to this threat, both for the protection of civilians and for the safety and security of our peacekeepers. We need to do the utmost to prevent the spread of those lethal weapons to other regions of the Central African Republic. Such an approach should include investing in situational awareness as well focused cross-border cooperation on the origins and sources of the supply of those weapons. Furthermore, the multidimensional response should entail enhanced predeployment troop preparedness, the adequate training and equipping of contingents deployed, capacity-building for the national defence and security forces and further promoting community awareness and sensitization on the threat.
The Central African Republic is a vast country, with a tropical climate and dense forests and replete with unpassable terrains. The road network in the country covers a mere distance of about 24,000 kilometres, most of which is dirt track with only 3 per cent asphalted. Those tracks are unusable for road transportation during the eight long months of heavy rains each year. Throughout the country, many villages are unreachable and almost cut off year-round. In brief, Central Africa is a landlocked country with no internal connectivity roads. That not only constitutes a major challenge to the mobility of MINUSCA’s troops and the national defence and security forces, and therefore to the protection of civilians and the extension of Central African State authority over its territory, but those problems are also further compounded by our Mission’s limited transport and logistics capacities to project personnel and support operations. In response to protection of civilian emergencies in some remote areas, the Mission must use all its limited air assets, leaving us ill-equipped to attend to other pressing protection of civilian needs. The lack of a bulk cargo aircraft has limited the Mission’s ability to transport critical materials necessary to undertake our field projects to improve accessibility and mobility of MINUSCA’s uniformed and civilian personnel.
As we prepare soon to initiate MINUSCA’s budget deliberations, we sincerely count on the Council members and all Member States to avail MINUSCA of the requisite transport and logistic means to consolidate and expand MINUSCA’s logistical support to the Government of the Central African Republic and the national defence and internal security forces so that they can fulfil their primary responsibility of protecting civilians and exercising sovereignty over their territory.
Indeed, resolution 2709 (2023), through which the Council renewed the mandate of MINUSCA, elevated the Mission’s support to the restoration and extension of State authority to a priority task. MINUSCA, in coordination with United Nations agencies, has invested in key areas, including the redeployment of civil servants and other State agents from Bangui to their places of assignment in prefectures and sub-prefectures across the country. MINUSCA has also invested in the construction, refurbishment and equipping of administrative buildings. As of January, 86 per cent of local administrative authorities are present at their posts. MINUSCA provided logistic, security and capacity-building support to the Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reform and to the Ministry of Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Local Development, reaching a total of more than 5,000 civil servants present in the field, as compared to only 650 in 2013.
I should state that our current mandate has raised expectations for even more. In that context, the Mission will continue to enhance its close cooperation and joint patrols with the Armed Forces of the Central African Republic and internal forces, especially in border areas and conflict hotspots. That is coupled with the urgent need for security sector reform, to which we continue to lend considerable support.
However, the elevation of extension of State authority to a priority task has not been accompanied by additional resources for its implementation, which, if not addressed during the upcoming budget deliberations, could limit our ability to optimally support the additional mandated priority task. Furthermore, the magnitude of security sector reform and restoration of State authority needs cannot be supported by MINUSCA alone. I therefore encourage Member States and partners with relevant expertise and institutional capabilities to support the Central African national defence and security forces and, in doing so, support the Central African Republic’s efforts and progress in building a professional army and internal security forces. There is simply no alternative to lasting security and securitization of the Central African population and the preservation of the sovereignty of the Central African territory.
This is an opportunity for me to salute the Government of the Central African Republic for the adoption, at the end of December 2023, of its 10-year national policy for the management of border areas. The execution of the plan calls for border cooperation between the Central African Republic and neighbouring countries, including through the activation of the border commissions. The commissions play a crucial role in the common fight against insecurity and all forms of illegal activities that are a perennial constraint to the economic development of the Central African Republic.
On 8 December 2023, the Government of the Central African Republic and MINUSCA jointly organized a seminar on strategic communication. The aim of the national seminar was to collectively take stock of achievements and challenges of the past mandate, but also to acquaint the Government and all Central African Republic partners with the contents of the new mandate, as well as the respective roles and responsibilities of the Government, MINUSCA, the United Nations country team and Central African partners in its implementation. The strategic communication initiative, which was the first since the deployment of the Mission, was highly appreciated by the Central African authorities and the diplomatic community in Bangui, as well as local authorities in the region. One of the major outcomes of the prefectural seminars was a general clarion call by women for support that would permit them to play an engaged and active role in the local elections and in the local implementation mechanisms of the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in their respective localities. I intend to continue using my good offices and to mobilize all of the Mission’s resources, the United Nations country team and other bilateral and multilateral partners towards that goal. A more active and meaningful participation by women and youth in the political life of the Central African Republic, especially in the peripheries, is central to their meaningful inclusion in the political and socioeconomic development of their country