News bulletin 96 (9 Feb- 16 Feb 2009)
Feb 18th, 2009 by Gisele Willybiro, OCHA
Highlights
- Bossembélé targetted by a group of unidentified attackers
- The UN’s Walter Kälin calls for greater support for the displaced population of CAR
- Community radios on the way in Birao and Paoua thanks to UNESCO
Background and security
Armed group attacks Bossembélé
The town of Bossembélé, 160 kilometres north east of Bangui came under attack on the night of the 12th of February. The group of unidentified attackers led a simultaneous attack on the town’s military base and its prison. The Ministry for National Defence, Former Combatants, War Victims, Disarmament and the Restructuring of the Army condemned these attacks in a statement issued on the 13th of February.
The statement indicated that the Central African army (FACA) responded immediately, causing the attackers to flee, and thereby taking control of the situation.
Bossembélé’s prison which the attackers targetted, is holding renowned criminals, the government statement added.
Henri Maïdou named President of CSDPI
14 February : Former Prime Minister Henri Maïdou was named president of the Committe for monitoring the Inclusive Political Dialogue recommendations (CSDPI) by a presidential decree issued on 5th of February by the Republic’s President François Bozizé.
M. Maïdou will be seconded by Mr. Pascal Koyamené, Secretary General for the Rassemblement Démocratique Centrafricain (RDC) which is part of the opposition party the Union des Forces Vives de la Nation (UFVN). Patrice Endjimoungou of the FPP – Patriotic Force for Progress – will take up the post of General Secretary while the Communication, Awareness-raising and Spokesperson is taken by Grébaye Djarnib from the Union des Forces Démocratiques pour le Rassemblement (UFDR).
Henri Maïdou was the second vice president at the recent Inclusive Political Dialogue, along with former Burundian President Pierre Buyoya and Central African preacher Binguimalé.
Current events
More to be done for displaced population
Walter Kälin, United Nations Special Representative for the Rights of Internally Displaced People was in CAR between the 10th and the 12th of February. His visit was a follow up to his 2007 trip, focussing on the plight of the some 110,000 displaced people in CAR.
Mr. Kälin acknowledged that the signing of the peace agreements in December by the government, the opposition and several rebel groups represented a significant stage towards peace and stability in this country.
The UN representative further noted that these developments should allow for a more concerted effort to implement durable solutions for displaced people living in the north of the country, many of whom have suffered at the hands of armed forces.
Community radio on the way to northern CAR
Sophie Béyala, coordinator for community radios and multi-media with the United Nations Organisation for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) in Yaoundé met with the Minister of State responsible for Communication, Civics, National Reconcilation and Dialogue Monitoring Mr. Cyriaque Gonda on the 12th of February.
Sophie Béyala is visiting CAR for 2 weeks to carry out a feasibility study into the setting up of two community radio stations, one in Birao (north east) and one in Paoua (north west).
She is accompanied by a Central African engineer who will look into the technical side of the programme, while Ms. Béyala investigates the expectations of local communities in terms of the implementation of this communications tool.
The community radio project has been funded by CAR’s Peace Building Fund to the tune of $370,000 in the framework of reconciliation in conflict-affected zones.
«These stations will help us build peace,’ said Cyriaque Gonda. ‘They will also revitalise communities and create the right conditions for the development of our country.’
Mission – technical commission for DDR pilot
The technical commission for the pilot project for DDR – Disarmament, Demobilisation and Re-Integration – made up of government representatives, some United Nations agencies, Jean-Jacques Demafouth, head of the APRD, and Zacharia Daman of UFDR arrived at Bocaranga on the 12th of February. The commissioned visited the local authorities and then went to the Catholic mission in Bocaranga where they held meeting with missionaries and some victims of the conflict who told of the challenges in the region – violence, economic, health and education problems – but also spoke of their hope in the political dialogue.
The mission also visited the village of Kosse at 35 kilometres from Bocaranga where they encouraged the local population to follow the path towards peace.
The mission concluded with a distrubution of forms in order to start a census of those who have taken part in rebel activities with a view to helping them re-integrate into society.
Contact gazzera.aurelio@gmail.com for more information
Global Funds fights HIV/ Aids
The ‘Strengthened Response for people living with HIV/ Aids in CAR’ programme has received $24,904,652 in funding in the first allocation in CAR from the Global Fund fighting AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The implementation of the programme was completed on the 31st of January 2009, with coordination by the United Nations Programme for Development (UNDP) and achieved the following:
1. Construction of voluntary test centres in 16 health prefectures
2. Testing of 114,782 people
3. Screening of 5,597 pregnant women of whom 2,650 were put on Anti-retro Virals (ARV)
4. Putting 10,551 HIV/ Aids positive patients on AVR.
The programme achieved the majority of its aims, the next stage is implementation of the programme to fight HIV in the framework of the 7th round of the National Coordination Funds for the fight against AIDS.
The programme’s implementation was not easy, confronting major challenges such as the weakness of the health system, gaps in health information provision which needs to be reinforced, the landlocked nature of this country as well as communication problems with the provinces.
UNDP will produce a report for those involved in the fight against HIV/ Aids – technical and financial partners – covering lessons learnt (good and bad practice) in the context of implementation of further HIV/ Aids programmes.
Contact abdoulaye.bagnou@undp.org for more information
Contact Us:
Gisèle Willybiro | willybiro@un.org | +236 75 54 90 31
