BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) – The United Nations took over a regional African peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic on Monday, nine months after sectarian violence erupted that has left at least 5,000 people dead and has forced tens of thousands of Muslims to flee into exile in neighboring countries.
About 1,800 additional peacekeepers and police are joining the mission as the United Nations takes over, though that force when combined with the existing African troops is still only about 65 percent of what was authorized by the U.N. Security Council in April.
Human rights groups and others called for the full deployment of a nearly 12,000-strong force, which diplomats have said won’t take place until early 2015.
“The switch from AU to U.N. peacekeepers must be more than a cosmetic change: the swapping green berets for blue helmets. Instead it must serve as a fresh start for the peacekeeping operation in CAR,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s campaigns deputy regional director for West and Central Africa.
The peacekeepers face an enormous task: bringing peace to a country the size of Texas with some 4.6 million people that is one of the least developed on the African continent. Some roads have not been repaired since independence from France in 1960 and others are near-inaccessible during the rainy season. The country’s vast north was largely anarchic even before the violence erupted and is home to a plethora of rebel groups and armed movements.