Maria Kabatanya
United Nations police officer Balkissa Nassamou Nana has no qualms about making it known that her gender is an invaluable asset to the work of MINUSCA’s proximity police team in the Kilometre 5 (PK5) neighbourhood of Bangui’s 3rd arrondissement in the Central African Republic (CAR).
One of three women in a team of eight peacekeepers given the all-important task of policing PK5 – a perennial hotspot for flareups between various groups – she relishes the daily opportunities her position affords her to play a key role in calming tensions.
“The goal is for the residents of PK5 to understand the importance of security and to promote the return of peace, public services, and the CAR internal security forces to the area,” she says.
The current United Nations Proximity Police (UNPOL PROX) team was deployed to PK5 in October last year, in the wake of the 2018 Operation Sukula conducted jointly by MINUSCA and the government to clear the area of criminal gangs following unrest that saw looting and burning of local police stations to the ground. PK5 had long been the stage for clashes between diverse self-defense groups. Locals requested for MINUSCA presence as trust had broken down between the citizens of PK5 and the national security forces. To this day, the CAR internal security forces are yet to return to the whole of PK5 – with their presence limited to a sole police post at the 3rd arrondissement police department.
“Proximity policing allows for direct contact with different groups in PK5 and provides knowledge on the local realities and concerns of the population,” notes officer Nassamou Nana. The police team acts as a bridge between the PK5 population and the local authorities. Among the key objectives is the return of State Authority to PK5.
The team’s most remarkable feature: policing with no weapons, no vests and no helmets in a part of the city long described as volatile. Building and maintaining trust is a core component of their daily operations. They conduct foot patrols, collect and pass on information to relevant actors and engage in mediation alone or with community leaders.
“We work to establish and maintain relationships with different actors in the local community as their involvement in security management is a pre-requisite for achieving sustainable peace,” she explains while on foot patrol.
As the 20th anniversary of the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on WPS, which recognizes women’s role as imperative to the success of international peace and security processes approaches, Balkissa Nassamou Nana reflects on a cherished role – flying the flag for the WPS agenda.
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She reveals that, in PK5, she has found “the privilege of an audience that is particularly eager to listen to the voices of the three women on the team”. Her gender also puts her in a unique position be privy to local women’s needs as “they more easily open up to a fellow woman”, as she puts it. That trust allows for a better understanding of her work environment and mobilization of appropriate resources to respond to their specific needs, such as regarding combating gender-based violence (GBV).
She is the focal point for the protection of vulnerable people on the UNPOL PROX team – she sees it as a platform to help shape police responses that take into account the vulnerabilities of women and children, and further the WPS agenda. “In some parts of PK5, contact between men and women is limited due to religious reasons. For certain cases brought to the team’s attention, only women can communicate with those affected,” she explains. For her, such situations are a golden opportunity to capture women’s priorities, which the WPS agenda champions as central to peace processes and decision-making in order to strengthen conflict prevention and reduce the likelihood of recurrent conflict for durable peace.
It is not always smooth sailing however. She outlines some major challenges: “Acceptance by the public, risks related to the presence of self-defense groups, getting people to change their mentality and behaviour in order to create the conditions to allow for the return of State Authority to PK5”.
Such obstacles notwithstanding, she feels that progress is being made. “There is less frequent gunfire, banks and pharmacies are reopening and we are witnessing the return of displaced people.”
Crucially, UNPOL PROX has integrated responses to the coronavirus health crisis into their work. Together with the MINUSCA Civil Affairs Section and the CAR National Committee against Covid-19, the team has organized awareness-raising activities on COVID-19 prevention for Imams and pastors, women, youth, members of former armed groups and motorcycle cab drivers through neighbourhood visits.
Balkissa Nassamou Nana is most proud of her work in helping advance the WPS mandate through empowering the women of PK5. UNPOL PROX’s female component has provided training for the heads of over 60 women’s associations so as to establish a strong network of women leaders in Bangui’s 3rd, 5th, 6th districts. The training will enable them to meaningfully take part in the day-to-day promotion of dialogue on peace, human rights and the fight against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).
She is aware that ensuring the return of peace and State Authority to PK5 is a mammoth task; she firmly believes that championing the WPS cause is one of the keys to lasting peace.