Don't Give Up on the Central African Republic, by Donata GARRASI

In the words of the UN Security Council, there has been “a total breakdown in law and order” in the Central African Republic (CAR) following the March overthrow of the government by the Séléka rebel group.


*This blog has been reposted with the permission of OECD Insights Blog. Click here for the original post*

To mark UN International Day of Peace, today’s article is by Donata Garrasi of the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding

In the words of the UN Security Council, there has been “a total breakdown in law and order” in the Central African Republic (CAR) following the March overthrow of the government by the Séléka rebel group. UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos reported that CAR faces “a complex emergency characterised by violence, acute needs and grave protection issues.” According to Amos, all 4.6 million CAR citizens have been affected and 1.6 million people are in dire need of food, protection, health care, water, sanitation and shelter. Amos’s words were echoed by EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Kristalina Georgieva when she exposed the gravity of the situation of CAR to the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and called for greater international attention to what she described as a “forgotten crisis” and a country at risk of disintegration, in a region characterised by high levels of instability.