UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th March, 2021) The UN Security Council agreed to increase the size of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) by nearly 3,700 troops to enhance the ability of the mission to protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian access.
Under the resolution adopted on Friday evening, the UN Security Council will "increase the authorized size of MINUSCA's military component by 2,750 and increase [the mission's] policing component by 940," in efforts to boost MINUSCA's ability to protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian access, the document said.
The document also said reinforcements would enable the mission to prevent and reverse the deterioration of the security situation in the car while creating space for the advancement of the political process there.
The reinforcements should be implemented in a phased approach, the Security Council said in the resolution. Through the document, the council further requested the UN Secretary-General to include in his report due October a proposal on the overall configuration of MNUSCA's force.
Under another resolution adopted in November last year, the Security Council decided that MINUSCA should continue to comprise up to 13,730 troops, including 11,650 military personnel and 2,080 police personnel.
In January 2021, MINUSCA's head Mankeur Ndiaye asked the UN Security Council for a "substantial increase of troops and the mission," following the loss of seven peacekeepers in less than a month.
The request came a month after the deterioration of the security situation in CAR caused by the violent clashes around a disputed election between the forces backing incumbent President Faustin Archange Touadera and the supporters of his main rival and predecessor, Francois Bozize.
