The Joint UN-African Union-ECCAS-EU Delegation to the Central African Republic met with President Touadéra, political, religious and civil society actors to discuss the peace process, two years after the Khartoum Treaty and five months after the coalition’s rebel offensive. of patriots for change in the capital. The UN Deputy Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, is RFI’s guest.
First and foremost, with the goal of this mission that you carry out, that is, to evaluate the peace process. Recall that in Khartoum in 2019 the thirteenth peace agreement for the Central African Republic was signed and that, after all, at the end of last year, there was the uprising from the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) that almost took hold. . The government now seems to favor the military alternative. What are the reasons for still believing in it?
Jean-Pierre Lacroix:Firstly, because we must never give up and because if we did, we would be completely in line with our principles, our values and our goals. But we would also betray the Central African people. This peace agreement was not perfect, but it had the merit of creating a political framework in which those who signed it undertook to reduce violence. And the CPC groups broke their commitment, it’s clear. As long as those who make the choice of violence do not abandon this choice in favor of dialogue, there is clearly a place for a response by force. And besides, Minusca has contributed and contributed to it. And it did so at a high price, because, as I recall, more than ten of our peacekeepers have been killed by members of armed groups since the CPC uprising began. But we encouraged His Excellency the President [Faustin-Archange] Touadéra to promote this approach of inclusive dialogue with the political forces, and also with the armed groups that have rejected the violence or have not joined the CPC.
At the end of your meeting with the Head of State, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, you spoke of “threats, serious incidents”. Can you explain the content of these incidents?
Messages of hatred, misinformation and hostile demonstrations, obviously or clearly manipulated. What bothers us is that these hate messages, this misinformation are sometimes conveyed and organized by people who come from the majority in power. And this is obviously very inconvenient.
How to understand that the Central African Republic today calls on Russian instructors who, according to the UN expert group on mercenaries, are considered mercenaries to reject the rebels when there are already 12,000 peacekeepers in the country. Is not it a failure somewhere UN Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic?
Firstly, it is not up to us, and we told the President of the Republic, to pass judgment or make recommendations on the bilateral partnerships that a sovereign state chooses. Yes, that’s a speech we hear. When we now talk to all the conversation partners we have met without exception, everyone has said to us: we want Minusca and the other represented organizations to stay and continue their activities.
Still on the Russian paramilitary forces, they would also be involved in obstacles to Minusca’s free movement, searches of vehicles, threats against its representatives, destroyed equipment. What is your reaction to this condition?
It is true that we have had cases of access restriction, cases of threats that do not always come from the CPC groups. There have been cases where the Central African forces and the bilateral partners have really been involved in this type of action. We shared our concerns in this regard with the President of the Republic. And the President of the Republic is determined to ensure that we can continue to work under the conditions necessary for us to carry out this work.
The United Nations Expert Group on Trade has documented serious human rights abuses allegedly perpetrated by these paramilitaries.
La Minusca has a mandate to report on allegations of human rights violations. This leaves the parties concerned, and in particular the host state, to carry out the necessary investigations to shed light on these alleged facts and to bring those responsible, if any, to justice. This is what we can say about this subject, which is obviously worrying because the population is affected, it has already suffered a lot. We always think about it in everything we do, in everything our colleagues do daily in the field.
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