The UN Security Council eased the arms embargo on the Central African Republic on Thursday, July 27, now excluding those intended for government forces.
In a resolution adopted by thirteen votes in favor and two abstentions (Russia and China), the council considers that the situation in the country “continues to be a threat to peace and security in the region” and extends until July 31 2024 the arms embargo in place since the 2013 civil war. However, it specifies that this embargo “no longer applies to the supply, sale and transfer of arms” intended for the Central African security forces , stressing at the same time his concern about the trafficking of arms supplying the armed groups operating in the country.
Bangui, supported by Russia and China, demanded a total lifting of the embargo framework. “The text adopted today is a real affront to the Central African Republic,” said its foreign minister, Sylvie Baipo Temon, accusing the Security Council of “amalgamating” her country with armed groups. This vote is “an unfair and arbitrary verdict that the Central African people cannot accept”, she added, thanking Beijing and Moscow for their abstention.
The embargo “has no added value to prevent the supply of weapons to fighters, who have continued to acquire them for these ten years, commented the Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy. We are convinced that given the situation in the Central African Republic, the Security Council should have decided to lift all forms of sanctions against the efforts of a sovereign State to stabilize and ensure its security. »
Despite its criticisms, Russia, which has the right of veto, did not block the adoption of this text which also condemns “the use of mercenaries and violations of international humanitarian law and […] human rights that ‘they commit’. No name is mentioned, but the Russian paramilitary group Wagner has been accused in particular by the European Union (EU) and experts of human rights violations in the Central African Republic.
The resolution also extends the sanctions (asset freezes, travel ban) against around 15 individuals, including former President François Bozizé, by one year.
One of the poorest countries in the world, the Central African Republic has been in the grip of a civil war since 2013, when a coalition of predominantly Muslim armed groups, the Séléka, overthrew François Bozizé. He then organized and armed so-called anti-balaka militias, mostly Christian and animist, to try to regain power.