Since rebels ousted the ruling government
in March 2013, civilians in the CAR have
suffered routine exactions, arbitrary
arrests, looting, arson, recruitment of
child soldiers, and summary executions.
Here, African Union peacekeepers from
Burundi walk through the Fouh
neighbourhood, as they investigate the
area after anti-Balaka militiaman
attacked a truck and killed at least one
Muslim passenger attempting to flee the
capital, in the Fouh neighbourhood of
Bangui, Central African Republic.
The crisis in the Central African Republic
and the ongoing military intervention
highlight the security challenges in Africa
and the need for a rapid reaction force
The Central African Republic (CAR) is an
impoverished country of 4.5 million
inhabitants spread over 623,000 sq. km,
located in the centre of Africa, which
became independent from France in 1960. It
has recently turned into another hub of
instability. Responding to an urgent appeal
from the African Union and the transitional
authorities of the CAR, on December 5,
2013, France decided to deploy 1,600
soldiers in the country. The French soldiers
are bolstering the African-led International
Support Mission to the Central African
Republic (MISCA). Several international
partners — many European — have
contributed with logistical and financial
support.
This intervention was urgent and necessary
to prevent a catastrophe. Since rebels
ousted the ruling government in March 2013,
the daily life of civilians was reduced to
exactions, arbitrary arrests, looting,
recruitment of child soldiers, scorched
villages, rape, mutilation, and summary
executions. One out of ten inhabitants was
forced to abandon their house, 70,000
Central Africans have fled the country, and
2.3 million people urgently need help. Even
more disquieting, the clashes between
Christian and Muslim groups had assumed
extremely dangerous communal and
religious tendencies.
Threat of anarchy
Anarchy in the CAR is also a threat to its
neighbours, especially Sudan as well as the
Democratic Republic of Congo, and South
Sudan, where the United Nations maintains
peacekeeping operations with large Indian
contingents. In an already quite fragile
region, the CAR must not become a new
sanctuary for trafficking, militias and
terrorist groups.
Our goals are clear. The first is to restore
security in the CAR, check the spiralling
extortions and religious drift, and enable the
return of relief organisations as well as the
reinstatement of a functioning government.
The situation is still fragile, but the initial
results are encouraging. Through dissuasive
patrolling, French soldiers have been able to
avert widespread massacres at a time when
the situation in the capital city of Bangui
was becoming particularly critical.
The second goal is to put the MISCA in a
position to ensure control over the security
situation, with the task of disarming militias
and facilitating political transition before
2015. We support swift augmentation of
MISCA capabilities from 2,400 men to 6,000
men. The French engagement is temporary
and not a substitute for African efforts. But
in the face of the urgency of the situation, it
was necessary to act promptly with
sufficient and swiftly deployable resources.
France, a permanent member of the United
Nations Security Council, responded in
keeping with its international responsibilities
and on the basis of a UN mandate.
Resolution 2127 provides for the option of a
UN peacekeeping operation to follow the
MISCA, should the Security Council so
decide.
Working hand in hand with our African
partners, we hope to enhance the
international forces swiftly and stabilise the
situation on the ground within a few months.
The intervention in the CAR is quite different
from that which took place in Mali. Mali
required countering a terrorist offensive led
by particularly determined groups operating
from strongholds they already occupied in
the north of the country. We repulsed and
defeated this offensive, helped Mali regain
its territorial integrity and have
democratically elected political authorities,
with the presidential election held in July
and legislative polls in December. Of course,
on the ground, the fight to defeat any
terrorist resurgence continues. In the CAR,
we have to disarm militarily not a specific
enemy but completely out-of-control
militias, and prevent communal violence
between Christians and Muslims.
In the face of such crises, terrorism, piracy,
and all kinds of trafficking, Africa must
organise ways to deal by herself with such
challenges rapidly and efficiently. At the
Summit for Peace and Security in Africa,
held in Paris in early December, the African
Heads of State and government agreed on
the necessity of forging collective security in
Africa by establishing an African rapid
reaction force in the coming months. France
hails this important development and will
support this force. The international
community must rise to this challenge
together in the interest of Africa’s security,
which is important for all of us, well beyond
the boundaries of this continent.
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