MADRID, 22 (EUROPA PRESS)
The president of the Central African Republic (RCA), Faustin-Archange Touadéra, has demanded this Tuesday the United Nations the “total withdrawal” of the “unjust” embargo on the Army in order to be able to deal with the offensive of the rebels of the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC).
“RCA renews its call for the total withdrawal of the embargo that unjustly weighs on our Army, which asks it to carry out its mission of protection of the civilian population and the protection of the territory,” he said, in the framework of his speech before the UN General Assembly.
The embargo was imposed in 2013 due to the increase in violence and human rights violations and implies that the RCA authorities can only acquire weapons for the security and defense forces after receiving approval from a sanctions committee created for this purpose by the UN Security Council.
As a result of the February 2019 peace agreement with fourteen armed groups, the UN modified the embargo to authorize the purchase of smaller caliber weapons without the need for this prior authorization, although the Army still has to notify the agency which weapons it buys and what you will use them for.
Thus, Touadéra has also pledged to “scrupulously respect” the 2019 peace agreement and has denounced the integration of several armed groups that signed it into the CPC and their responsibility for “abuses against civilians” in the context of the conflict.
“My leitmotiv continues to be to unite my compatriots to make RCA billiards in unity, overcoming all differences,” said the president, who has defended his call for a “republican dialogue” to “reinforce” the peace agreement.
“My Government works to preserve the constitutional order, democratic anchorage, the consolidation of peace and stability,” stressed Touadéra, who thanked the forces of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Republic. Central African (MINUSCA) and the Russian and Rwandan “allied forces” fighting on the side of the Central African Army.
Russia has sent “military instructors” to RCA at the request of the authorities to deal with the CPC offensive, amid allegations of abuses committed by these forces, which have been described as mercenaries by the rebels and by the United Nations.
The request for the dispatch of these instructors was formulated in December 2020 by Touadéra before the offensive launched by the CPC before the presidential elections of that same month, in which he obtained a second term, amid complaints from the opposition for the violence and irregularities.
On the other hand, Touadéra has highlighted that the authorities have shown their commitment to investigating complaints about human rights abuses by the Army and allied forces during the “counteroffensive” against the CPC and has praised the “operationalization” of the Commission. for Truth, Justice, Reparation and Reconciliation.
In this sense, he has emphasized that this last point “constitutes a great contribution to the success of the peace process and national reconciliation, as well as being a complement to the actions to combat impunity.”
The African country has been plunged into a serious crisis as a result of the elimination of the candidacy of former president François Bozizé, who returned to the country at the end of 2019 to become a candidate for the Presidency again, a position he left in 2014 due to the lifting of the Séléka rebels, predominantly Muslim.