New York, United States - The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the Central African Republic (CAR), Ms. Margaret Vogt, on  Friday said that the UN was making concerted efforts to assist the country to confront serious challenges, including poverty, corruption and impunity. Vogt, who also heads the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA), told the UN Security Council that, ``despite the gains made in recent years, the country still faces serious challenges'. 'It is afflicted with extreme poverty, weak national institutions, corruption, a high rate of violent crime perpetrated by armed movements and brigands, human rights violations and impunity,” she stated.

The special representative, who presented Secretary-General's latest report on the activities of her office, stated: ``The United Nations system spared no effort in providing timely and integrated support to the Government and people of the Central African Republic in addressing these challenges'.

Vogt, however, noted that the government’s actions on political reform, poverty reduction, ceasefire agreements, and the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants and called for continued international assistance for those efforts.

She also said that, ``CAR is at the crossroads of critical conflict zones, impacted by insecurity from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan, with the possibility of an upsurge of in security across the Sudanese border as the country grapples with security challenges that would necessarily attend the creation of the new state of South Sudan'.

On what the secretary-general called the ``dire situation of women and children in CAR, she said she was planning to establish a protection unit within BINUCA to ``help coordinate these issues'.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Security Council welcomed the government’s commitment to fight corruption, its plans to increase DDR, the signing of the peace
agreements, and the signing of a tripartite agreement between CAR, Chad and Sudan.

The council, however, expressed concern with the humanitarian situation in the country.

It also stressed the need ``to ensure the security of refugees, internally displaced persons and humanitarian personneI, before a political solution to security concerns in the region can make their voluntary return possible'.

The council members also encouraged ``the Central African authorities and the politico-military groups to play an active role in the prevention of human rights abuses.”

The UN withdrew its peacekeeping operation from CAR and Chad last year at the end of its mandate, and had since concentrated on civilian peacebuilding efforts, including promoting reconciliation, supporting the DDR process, electoral assistance, reforming the security sector and helping efforts to restore State authority throughout the country.

Pana 09/07/2011