CAR Central African Republic: Fragile, failed and forlorn

[davidbfpo]

A first-hand report from Bangui, which includes:

The CAR’s interim president, Catherine Samba-Panza, has few of the tools most heads of state rely on to restore order – the army is not allowed to carry guns and her administration has almost no political skills.

(Later) The latest internal peacekeeping crisis shines an unwelcome light on soldiers from Congo-Brazzaville. Human Rights Watch has documented a number of cases of torture, murder and abduction of locals by the Congolese in areas under their watch. In September the AU forces will change the colour of their helmets and become United Nations peacekeepers.

Link:http://mg.co.za/article/2014-06-05-d...eeth-in-bangui

[davidbfpo]

With the MSM focus being elsewhere I doubt few outside Africa noted diplomacy has ended with a multi-faction ceasefire agreement in Brazzaville:http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/artic.../#.U9JQFKORcdV

Needless to say some are sceptical that it can be effective:

I see the ceasefire as a non-event,” said David Smith, director of South Africa-based media firm Okapi Consulting and an expert on the region. “Disarmament is not part of the deal, and that's what Central Africans want most.

[davidbfpo]

Hurrah? From VOA:

A United Nations peacekeeping force will deploy Monday in the Central African Republic.....The Security Council authorized the force, known as MINUSCA, to take all necessary means to carry out its mandate in the CAR. For many in Bangui this means that the U.N. troops will not hesitate to use force against armed groups.... Most of the 6,000 African Union troops already in the CAR will join the new U.N. mission.....new troops from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia have recently arrived. According to the United Nations, a 400 member U.N. police force will be deployed in the coming weeks in Bangui.

A note of realism from MSF:

It seems that forces will look different. But right now, we are not confident [in] their efficiency in the coming months in CAR..We have been noticing that although things are improving in Bangui in terms of security, it is not the case in the rest of the country..

Link:http://www.voanews.com/content/un-pe...c/2449591.html

The two thousand French troops are not part of the UN mission:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29213557

Do they have an exit plan?

[davidbfpo]

A pungent comment by David Smith, director of South Africa-based media firm Okapi Consulting and an expert on the region:

But if history teaches us anything, and it should, then Minusca is likely to be as successful as its numerous predecessors. From the time of Misab and Minurca…through Bonuca, Binuca, Fomuc, Fomac, Micopax, Misca and now Minusca we have, to a large extent, many of the same players trying to do the same thing all over again – stabilise the country and prepare the ground for presidential elections. The big problem is that MINUSCA is preparing the ground for, to a large extent, many of the same people who have been looting and pillaging the CAR for decades to take over once again.

The peacekeeping effort needs drastic surgery that includes a strong and lengthy mandate that help to create a new network of functionaries, politicians and professionals that can start building the institutions any normal country has for running a country and providing the services and infrastructural needs that have yet to be created in this shadow of a state.


My biggest fear concerning MINUSCA is that once the UN containers are packed up in a year, two years, three years from now, the same people, both inside and outside the country who have benefited from a culture of impunity will be free to carry on as they have been since founding father Barthelemy Boganda was killed in a plane crash in 1959. What will the next peacekeeping mission be called?

Link:http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/artic.../#.VBgUvVeRcdV

[davidbfpo]

A fascinating backgrounder on CAR, on land ownership - an issue I don't recall being mentioned before. Here is one passage:

Stare at the situation long enough and CAR’s problems can largely be whittled down to two issues: how the state hands out concessions and leases to individuals and corporations with vested interests; and how Bangui defines land that is “not put to proper use”—land that sits fallow or is not mined or logged quickly enough.

Link:http://gga.org/stories/editions/aif-...nciliation-1/?

[davidbfpo]

An update on CAR, which rightly explains the context for the communal violence, with 'human terrain' details and a far from optimistic passage indicates this will be another long-haul peacekeeping operation:

For that to happen, violence in the CAR must be brought under control. The U.N. peacekeeping mission, supported by French and European Union forces, will need to act forcefully to protect civilians, standing their ground when the Seleka or anti-balaka threaten civilians. They face a difficult task, with almost no local security forces with which to work. Former soldiers of the national army and local gendarmes have left their posts; many have joined the anti-balaka, whose top leadership is almost completely made up of former army and police commanders. But reorganizing and rearming the army is considered too risky a solution at the moment. Many Seleka soldiers want to join a newly constituted army, but their own horrific record of abuse and the hostility they are likely to face from the population means that integrating them will be difficult.

Link:http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/12/11/...a-anti-balaka/

[davidbfpo]

A profoundly depressing first-hand account of a journey through the CAR. The thread's title 'Fragile, failed and forlorn' hardly seems appropriate. Maybe now it should be No Hope Here?

Link:http://features.hrw.org/features/Unr...blic/index.php