Bangui, 24 February 2022 (TDI): United Nations demands the release of four MINUSCA soldiers. United Nations claimed that it’s working to secure the release of four peacekeepers. United Nations General Secretary Antonio Guterres on Wednesday ordered the immediate acquittance of four soldiers.
#RépubliqueCentrafricaine🇨🇫:@antonioguterres condamne fermement l’arrestation de 4 membres de la MINUSCA/@UN_CAR.
Ces 4 personnes ont été arrêtées par la gendarmerie, sans respect de la procédure spécifique établie par l’Accord sur le statut des forces.https://t.co/Xu4rQJlEt0 pic.twitter.com/NnIbfMqbS0
— ONU Genève (@ONUGeneve) February 23, 2022
All of the four soldiers belong to foreign troops of the French Army. These forces are working under the UN mandate to keep peace in Central Africa.
In the statement, UN General Secretary called on the Central African Republic (CAR) that such an offense is not respected. He ordered the CAR to respect all the obligations under international law, including the Status of Forces Agreement.
Moreover, UN Chief demanded CAR to release all the four personnel of MINUSCA immediately and without any delay. Guterres said in a statement that “These members of MINUSCA enjoy privileges and immunities which are granted to them in the interest of the United Nations”
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters today that the UN peacekeeping mission is in touch with the CAR government to release the soldiers. The soldiers remain in police custody since Thursday. On the contrary, police have not given a reason for the detention of the peacekeeping soldiers.
MINUSCA
MINUSCA is the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic. It is the UN peacekeeping mission. It operates to protect Central African Republic civilians under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
Since the peacekeeping mission is mandated to protect civilians and support transition processes in the Central African Republic, came into operation in 2014. On September 15, 2014, MISCA, an African-Union-led peacekeeping force transformed into a UN peacekeeping force.
As a result, the number of soldiers increases double by number. Currently, MINUSCA has 14400 foreign military troops and 3020 police personnel. It also includes 146 experts, 275 volunteers, and hundreds of civilians assisting the mission.
For this reason, most of the military personnel are from the underdeveloped or developing countries of the world. As of November 2021, Rwanda provides the highest number of soldiers to the MINUSCA peacekeeping mission. Secondly, Rwanda is followed by Bangladesh and Pakistan providing 1340 and 1313 soldiers respectively.
Social Media Accusations
On social media, the four soldiers are accused of assassinating Central African President Faustin Archange Touadéra. Such allegations are strongly denied by France and the UN. The UN mission in the CAR condemned what they called a “misinformation campaign.”
