UN Relaxes Arms Embargo On Central African Republic

The UN Security Council has voted to relax the arms embargo against the Central African Republic.

The vote was 10-0 with Russia, China, and the council’s three African members that supported a lifting of the embargo abstaining.

According to reports The Central African Republic’s foreign minister, Sylvie Temon, told the council after the vote that the government welcomed the first step toward an arms embargo on armed groups.

She also welcomed the end to limits on some categories of weapons for government forces, but she stressed that “this embargo is no longer justified.

“The embargo from 2013 is undeniably ineffective because it no longer provides specific solutions to the grave problems posed by the proliferation of arms by extremists and rebels who have many, many sophisticated weapons themselves,” she added.

The mineral-rich Central African Republic has faced deadly intercommunal fighting since 2013.

However, a peace deal between the government and 14 rebel groups was signed in February 2019, but violence erupted after the constitutional court rejected Bozize’s candidacy to run for president in December 2020.

President Faustin Archange Touadera won a second term with 53% of the vote, but he continues to face opposition from a rebel coalition.

AP/CO