26 November 2013
Senior UN Official urges UN force to restrain ‘horrific’ situation in the Central African Republic
Citing mounting human rights abuses, sexual violence and other ‘horrors’, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson called on the international community for immediate action to halt the rapidly deteriorating situation in conflict-wracked Central African Republic (CAR). ‘It is critical for the international community and this Council to act now’, Eliasson told the UN Security Council, proposing that a UN peacekeeping mission eventually replace the current African-led International Support Mission in the CAR.
‘We face a profoundly important test of international solidarity and of our responsibility to prevent atrocities (…) The situation requires prompt and decisive action’ he said, also stressing that humanitarian needs are escalating, while funding is woefully short, with a 195 million dollar appeal less than half funded.
He noted that the African Union and the Economic Community of Central Africa States both agree that there is an urgent need for the international community to act, and that a UN peacekeeping operation with a robust mandate will be eventually required.