U.N. Measure Would Send Forces to Aid Central African Republic
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Version 0 of 1. UNITED NATIONS — France formally circulated a Security Council resolution on Tuesday night that would authorize thousands of African troops, aided by hundreds of French soldiers, to restore order in the Central African Republic, a mineral-rich country that has plunged into deadly anarchy and threatens to destabilize the region. The resolution, expected to be put to a vote within days, would constitute the most decisive United Nations action yet aimed at rescuing the Central African Republic from a nightmarish future of intercommunal violence that some diplomats have described as a new threat of genocide. France’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gérard Araud, told reporters that after intense negotiations on the language of the resolution, he believed it would be adopted by “Thursday morning at the latest.” The resolution does not specify how many foreign soldiers would be needed in the Central African Republic, where about 2,500 African Union soldiers are already deployed. But Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general, who made recommendations to the Security Council in a dire report last month, suggested that 6,000 to 9,000 troops from African Union members would be required. French diplomats said that up to 1,200 soldiers from France would also be deployed to help. The resolution specifies the possibility that the African Union force could be converted to a United Nations peacekeeping force, which would give it more resources. Mr. Araud told reporters it was premature to conclude that that was inevitable. “If the African force does the work, there will be no need,” he said. Nonetheless, there is no optimism about a quick turnaround in the country, which has been basically in a lawless state since the weak central government lost total control nine months ago. Last month the World Food Program said that more than one million people were at risk of hunger, and the top human rights official at the United Nations, Navi Pillay, said sectarian hatreds there threatened to spin “completely out of control.” The International Crisis Group, an independent nonprofit organization, said in a report on Monday that the African forces deployed there had failed to prevent chaos from spreading into urban areas, particularly Bangui, the capital. “The situation on the ground is deteriorating at a much faster pace than the international mobilization, and Bangui is vulnerable to a total breakdown in law and order,” it said. Diplomats and rights groups have attributed the main source of instability to the Seleka, a mostly Muslim coalition of armed groups that overthrew the government and that has terrorized the populace. Christian self-defense groups have formed in response, giving the conflict a deadly religious dimension. |