Central African region: Encouraging signs in peace efforts - Briefing | United Nations

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Assistant Secretary-General Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee told the Security Council that the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) has shown “encouraging signs” in its peace efforts in the subregion, yet “deepening multidimensional security and humanitarian crises, socio economic pressures and, most worryingly, restrictions to civil and political rights have increased.” Pobee said, “two fulcrums of instability stand out in Central Africa, Eastern Chad and the Lake Chad region,” and noted that “with the conflict in the Sudan in its fourth year, its direct impact on Chad cannot be overemphasised.” She said, “the influx of over 900,000 Sudanese refugees and 300,000 Chadian returnees, including over 800,000 children since April 2023, has placed a significant strain on national resources,” and has “undermined social cohesion in Chad's eastern provinces, exacerbating an already severe humanitarian crisis. Civilians in Cameroon and Chad, Pobee said, “continue to suffer indiscriminate attacks and human rights abuses by the various Boko Haram affiliated and splinter groups,” as they are “exploiting the limited presence of state authorities and services in those areas.” The Multinational Joint Task Force, she said, “remains an essential cross regional mechanism to combat the violent extremist threat in the Lake Chad Basin.” The political affairs and peacebuilding official said, “there is a worrying trend of increasing restrictions on civil and political rights in several parts of Central Africa,” warning that “if not reversed, these could contribute to a narrowing civic space, affecting long term stability and leading to conflict.”


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