The Ndjamena meeting is to evaluate the disturbing security and humanitarian situation in the country.

As part of efforts to find a solution to the worrying security and humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic, CAR, since the intervention of African Union-led MISCA and French troops last month, another extraordinary summit of leaders of the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS, is to hold in Ndjamena, Chad on Thursday, January 9, 2014.

Radio France Internationale, RFI, yesterday, January 7, 2014, cited Chad’s United Nations Envoy, Mahamat Zene Cherif, as announcing to the Security Council on Monday that the meeting will discuss the little progress made in improving security and the political situation. The summit that will also include international partners, will seek to restore peace to the war-torn nation, facilitate the holding of general elections as soon as possible and urge the transitional authorities in Bangui to work together.

Also speaking at the Security Council meeting, CAR’s Foreign Minister, Léonie Banga-Bothy, called for the urgent organization of a donors’ conference, RFI said. He said, given the complex nature of the crisis that demands huge means to handle, his government, just like the African Union, was in favour of holding such a conference as soon as possible. The donors’ conference is expected to hold in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on February 1, 2014.

While other Security Council members supported the deployment of a UN peacekeeping in the Central African Republic, Chad’s envoy argued that the MISCA force which only took up duties on December 19, 2013, needed to be given some time to handle the situation. Meanwhile, the Council is waiting for a situation report from the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, before deciding on deploying peacekeepers in the country. However, the report is not expected before the end of February 2014.   

Meanwhile, UN officials on Monday told the Security Council that CAR was on the brink of a catastrophe, with half the population made homeless since ethnic warfare broke out last year, Al Jazeera TV reported yesterday. UN Political Affairs Chief, Jeffrey Feltman, said about 2.2 million people throughout the country need assistance. About half of residents of the capital, Bangui, have been driven from their homes, with an estimated 100,000 of them seeking shelter at makeshift camps at the Bangui M'Poko International Airport.