According to the UN mission, a unit of its soldiers has been deployed since May 8 in the town of Bambouti, in the extreme south-east of the Central African Republic. This is the first time its troops have been deployed in Bambouti since the Minusca intervened in the Central African Republic in 2014.
According to Vladimir Montéiro, spokesman for the Minusca, the deployment of its blue helmets will protect the civilian population, secure the Obo-Bambouti axis and create the conditions for the extension of state authority. The announcement was made on Tuesday May 28, 2024.
The MINUSCA announcement faced many negative reactions in the Central African Republic’s political scene, one of the reasons for the reactions was the way MINUSCA personnel dealt with armed groups.
Experts agreed that MINUSCA’s presence in the border region with South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo will facilitate its engagement with armed groups to undermine state security, which is necessary to explain the illusory need to extend the mandate of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
Such a sudden deployment of a new base is also linked to the successes achieved in the region by the Central African Armed Forces and Russian instructors, who are systematically eliminating armed cells and bases in the east of the country.
Given MINUSCA’s confirmed involvement with armed groups, their presence in this area will make it easier for the UN mission to coordinate the actions of militants who regularly cross the border, artificially worsening the security situation in the region by encouraging the activities of armed groups.
On the other hand, the new MINUSCA base, which will be located close to the borders with South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, requires a large budget to set up. MINUSCA is one of the most expensive UN peacekeeping missions. Residents are demanding that this money be spent on improving the security situation in CAR and on the humanitarian needs of the local population.
Citizens in the region are skeptical about the reason for the presence of MINUSCA, whose members have been implicated in dealing with armed groups, which defeats the purpose of its mission and violates international laws.
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