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The UN Security Council on Thursday called on the Central African Republic to implement “without delay” a 2019 peace agreement by renewing its authorization for its peacekeeping mission there.
The resolution, drafted by France and adopted unanimously by the 15 members of the Security Council, “urges the authorities of the Central African Republic and the signatory armed groups to fully implement the peace agreement in good faith and without delay.”
The peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSCA, was extended until November 15, 2021 with a maximum of 11,650 military personnel.
According to the resolution, the French army is authorized to “use all means to provide operational support to elements of MINUSCA when they are under serious threat.”
Furthermore, the Security Council urged the country to “guarantee the preparation of inclusive, free, fair, transparent, credible, peaceful and timely presidential, legislative and local elections in 2020 and 2021.”
Presidential and legislative elections in the country, one of the poorest and most violent in the world, where militias control two-thirds of the territory, are scheduled for December 27.
In 2013, Seleka, a rebel coalition made up largely of the Muslim minority, overthrew then-President Francois Bozize, plunging the country into a spiral of violence that has forced nearly a quarter of the country’s 4.7 million people. to flee their homes.
The violence remains entrenched despite the peace agreement signed in February 2019 between the government and 14 armed groups, which often claim to defend the interests of specific communities or religions.
The President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera, is running for re-election at the polls.
Bozize, who has returned to the Central African Republic for a year, is among the list of candidates to present documents against him.
