The UN Security Council (UNSC) on Tuesday passed a resolution to lift the arms embargo on the Central African Republic (CAR) and decided that all UN member states shall take necessary measures to prevent the supply of arms to armed groups operating within the CAR until July 31, 2025.
Resolution 2745 (2024) was passed unanimously and extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts in their work pursuant to the resolution until August 31, 2025, with “special attention” being devoted to the “the analysis of illicit transnational trafficking networks.” The resolution expressed interest in reviewing the mandate of the Panel at an interim stage and requested the Panel to produce a midterm report no later than January 31, 2025 and a final report no later than June 15, 2025. The resolution also “strongly condemned attacks and human rights abuses committed by armed groups.”
The delegate representing France thanked the UNSC for engaging “constructively in discussions in order to produce a balanced text.” She also reminded the UNSC that “[w]hat is at stake is the stability of the Central African Republic and the entire region.” The delegate representing the Russian Federation believed that the resolution was “long overdue,” reminding the UNSC that the council needs to respond more effectively to sanctioned states in the future. The delegate representing Algeria expressed particular concern regarding the transparency of the resolution, especially with regard to the return of articles or items seized by any member state.
The arms embargo was adopted by the UNSC in December 2013 to address violence, human rights violations and the breakdown of law and order within the CAR. The 2013 resolution banned the supply of any military equipment or any other form of assistance to non-state actors and belligerents. However, the embargo also provided for certain exceptions to be made for the supply of arms to CAR government forces so long as it was approved in advance by a sanctions committee. The CAR government argued that the advanced approval requirement to supply military assistance to government forces made it impossible for it to solve the security crisis. After the CAR government signed peace agreements with 14 non-state armed organizations, the UNSC began to scale back the limitations imposed by the embargo set out in the 2013 resolution.
The violence that led to the arms embargo in the CAR originated from tensions between the majority Muslim Seleka forces, the majority Christian anti-balaka coalition and the pro-Bozizé government forces. As the fighting escalated between the two factions, many civilians suffered death, injury or displacement. The CAR’s humanitarian crisis is exemplified by figures given by the Council on Foreign Relations, which estimates that 5.6 percent of the population died in 2022, 3.4 million people require assistance and flooding affects another 100,000 people.
Many leaders of the non-state armed groups have been brought to the International Criminal Court (ICC), with former anti-balaka leaders Maxime Mokom, Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona and Alfred Yékatom, as well as Seleka leaders Noureddine Adam and Mahmat Said Abdel Kani, either having an arrest warrant issued against them or undergoing trial. Former president and leader of the government forces François Bozizé also has an international arrest warrant against him for his actions in the violence.
