CAR: UN report highlights risk of war September 8

Event

The UN released a report on Friday, September 8, detailing the risk that the Central African Republic may descend into a much-larger conflict if the current tensions are not diffused. The report highlighted the necessity of disarming armed groups, but conceded that national security forces are too weak to enforce disarmament.

Context

Religious conflicts have ravaged CAR since December 2013. Despite a ceasefire signed between 13 rebel groups and the government on June 19 of this year, clashes remain frequent throughout the country. The conflict has resulted in hundreds of deaths, created almost 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), and pushed more than 500,000 people to seek refuge in the neighboring countries of Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chad.

Advice

Most Western governments advise against nonessential travel to Bangui and against all travel to the rest of the country (particularly the northern provinces of Mambéré-Kadéï and Ombella-Mpoko and the eastern provinces of Nana-Grebizi, Ouaka, Basse-Kotto, Bamingui-Bangoran, Haute-Kotto, Mbomou, Vakaga and Haut-Mboubou) due to security concerns. Travel should only be considered with proper security protocols in place.