Highlights

• Baba Laddé, Chadian leader of the rebel group FRP, expelled by the government
• Abdoulaye Miskine of FDPC denounces 2007 peace agreements
• Arrival of new NGO Community Humanitarian Emergency Board (COHEB)
• Establishment of a multifunctional platform (PFMF) in Paoua
• Sahle-Work Zewde, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations (SRSG), visited Birao

Background and security

Expulsion of RPF rebel leader Baba Laddé
On October 10 the Minister of Security, Immigration and Public Order, General Bernard Ouandé, has signed a decree expelling the Chadian rebel leader of the Front Populaire pour le Redressement (FRP), Baba Laddé, from the territory of the Central African Republic.

The decree mentions the illegal introduction of a hundred armed men into the Central African Republic, who took the local population of Gundava (near Kaga Bandoro. in the north-western CAR) hostage.

The decree also denounced the attack on the Chadian garrison in Sido that was carried out from the territory of the Central African Republic by Baba Laddé’s men on October 3, 2009.

In September, State Minister, Cyriaque Gonda had welcomed Baba Laddé into the program of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR), upon which Laddé had announced the withdrawal of his troops from Gundava.

 
FDPC denounced the peace agreements
According to a government press release issued October 6, the Front Démocratique du Peuple Centrafricain (FDPC) will continue to contribute to the CAR’s chronic instability.

The press release was issued following the denouncement by FDPC leader Abdoulaye Miskine of all peace agreements made with the government since 2007.

The statement also indicates that the government would take all measures necessary to prevent any destabilization of the CAR.

Active in the Kabo region (northwestern CAR) since 2005, the FDPC had signed a peace agreement with the CAR government in Sirte, Libya on February 2, 2008. The agreement stipulates to provide for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the demobilization of rebels.
 

News

The NGO COHEB in CAR
Community Humanitarian Emergency Board (COHEB) is a humanitarian organization with headquarters located in Yaounde, Cameroon. It is composed of 1,327 humanitarian actors.

COHEB’s goal is to improve the living standards of displaced persons, refugees and orphans. COHEB also works for communities affected by natural disasters, armed conflicts, political crises, providing a wide range of support to the victims of humanitarian crises.

In Cameroon, the organization operates in areas such as health, nutrition, food security, water and sanitation, and community development.

The 60,000 Central African refugees present in eastern Cameroon led COHEB to extend its humanitarian activities in CAR in June and will focus most of its activities in the south-west of CAR.

Since September 20, the NGO, together with a group of experts, has completed its assessment of the south-west and will soon make the official opening of its office in Bangui.

On October 7 and 9, the NGO provided training on the minimum initial service package for reproductive health.

From October 12 to 29, another course will be aimed at capacity building for citizens wishing to join the organization.

Contact christy_bilo@yahoo.fr for more information.

 
First multifunctional platform in Paoua
As part of its multi-donor program which aims at recovering the agropastoral sector in Ouham Pendé prefecture (northern CAR), the Danish Council for Refugees (DRC) supported the establishment of a multifunctional platform (MFP) in Paoua, a first in CAR. This initiative aims, using a pilot community approach, to provide an energy source (generator) that supplies supplying various kinds of production equipment, such as mills, crushers, peelers, welding stations, etc.

The multi donor program includes the European Union, the Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF), the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Peacebuilding Fund, and the United Nations Development Programme.

The MFP is managed through a strategic, technical and organizational plan by the Union of Women of MFP Paoua (12 groups of about 350 women in total) who have committed and provided more than 1,500 USD as equity to the MFP for this purpose.

This initiative will promote several agricultural products (flour, oil, pasta, rice) and provide specific services such as welding, lighting, battery charging, and water pumps in a sustainable manner.

Based on the experiences of MFP in West Africa, this program is hoped to improve the living conditions of people, especially women, by providing a source of energy and ways to increase the value of products, and to reduce the burden of their work.

These women will be able to spend more time on other activities aimed at their self-promotion, such as literacy, education, and awareness on human rights, among others.

The MFP thus represents an important tool for community development, especially marginalized and underdeveloped areas.

Contact drccar@drc.dk for more information.
 
Download the full news bulletin 124 (28 Sept - 12 Oct 2009)
News Bulletin 124 - English (PDF) - 70 kB
News Bulletin 124 - Français (PDF) - 70 kB

For more information, please contact:
UN OCHA CAR | Gisele Willybiro-Maïdou | willybiro@un.org | +236 70 18 80 61
UNDP CAR | Tino Kreutzer | tino.kreutzer@undp.org | +236 75 57 50 34