UN Security Council lifts arms embargo on Central African Republic

Jul 31. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution lifting the arms embargo on the Central African Republic, in force since 2013, a measure welcomed by the government of the African country.

“This diplomatic victory is a first step towards restoring dignity to the Central African Republic and its people, making Central African diplomacy a model of perseverance and determination in the search for a more just world,” Foreign Minister Sylvie Baipo-Temon said yesterday after the vote.

The embargo was imposed by the UN due to increasing violence and human rights violations in the country, which could only acquire weapons for its security forces with the prior approval of a sanctions committee created for this purpose by the UN Security Council.

Following a peace agreement with some armed groups in 2019, the United Nations amended the embargo so that the Central African Army could purchase 14.5-millimeter or smaller-caliber weapons without the need for UN approval.

Despite this, the CAR army was required to inform the United Nations of the type of weapons it was purchasing and for what purpose. In his last speech to the UN General Assembly in September 2023, the President of the Central African Republic (CAR), Faustin-Archange Touadéra, called for the embargo to be lifted.

In November 2023, the UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), which will remain in force until 15 November 2024.