Annan urges continued support to consolidate peace

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday urged the international community to fulfill the pledges of assistance it made recently to the Central African Republic. Development and peace-building projects - if quickly implemented - could allow the country to provide for its own long-term security, he added. Annan stressed that the international community should remain engaged in CAR and take the “extra steps” needed to consolidate peace and stability there. “In practical terms, this means strengthening the national capacity of [the country] to provide for its own security in the newly restored democratic order,” a UN statement quoted Annan as saying. The political climate had recently improved with the nomination of extra cabinet ministers from the opposition Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People (MPLC), and the launch of a major investigation into financial scandals in state corporations, it added. In his latest report to the UN Security Council, Annan said the transition from the UN Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA) to the UN Peace-building Support Office (BONUCA) - established last February to support the Government’s efforts to consolidate peace and national reconciliation and begin national reconstruction - had been successful. The government now held “high hopes” that the international support demonstrated at a special donors’ meeting in New York on 15-16 May could be translated into concrete action to help meet the country’s most critical needs, including the ongoing National Programme for Demobilisation and Reintegration. “I appeal to the donor community to make every effort to assure an early fulfilment of the [US$38 million] pledges made during the meeting,” Annan said. He also expressed concern at the “alarming increase” in reports of extrajudicial killings and summary executions. In May alone, a special anti-crime police squad reportedly executed eight alleged armed robbery suspects without due process, the UN press release said. “The impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of these serious human rights violations continues to be a cause of grave concern,” Annan stated.