BANGUI (Reuters) – French and African soldiers serving in Central African Republic are “overwhelmed” by the “state of anarchy” in the country, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday, a day after Chadian troops began withdrawing from the peacekeeping mission.
The UN Security Council is due to approve next week a 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping force for the former French colony. The force will take over authority from African Union troops in an attempt to restore order to the country.
But that force is not expected to arrive until September, stoking fears of a security vacuum as the interim government struggles to control intercommunal violence that has killed more than 2,000 people since December.
During a brief visit to the impoverished country on his way to Rwanda, Ban appealed for more help and said the international community was at risk of repeating the mistakes of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, where some 800,000 died.
“I commend the African Union and French forces for making a difference,” he said in a speech before the interim government. “But they are under-resourced and overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the need.”
Until the UN force can be established, Ban called for “the immediate deployment of more troops and police”, though he did not say where he thought the extra forces might come from.
A long-promised European Union force is expected to start deploying at the end of this month, adding 800 new troops.
“The international community failed the people of Rwanda 20 years ago. And we are at risk of not doing enough for the people of the CAR today,” Ban said.
At the same gathering, the head of the interim government, Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet, requested an end to a UN embargo on arms exports to his country. “That way, the army can play its role,” he said.
