Attachments
I. Introduction
1. By its resolution 2605 (2021), the Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) until 15 November 2022 and requested the SecretaryGeneral to report on its implementation every four months. The present report provides an update on major developments in the Central African Republic since the previous report of 16 June 2022 (S/2022/491).
II. Political situation
2. On 29 August, national authorities adopted a timeline of priority activities to accelerate implementation of the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in the Central African Republic through the joint road map for peace in the Central African Republic of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region. In line with the timeline, the Government engaged with representatives of armed groups that remain committed to the Political Agreement for their full dissolution. The ongoing initiative to reform the Constitution contributed to deepening polarization in the country.
Political developments
3. Following the conclusion of the republican dialogue, recommendations that reflected key outcomes of the Bangui Forum on National Reconciliation of 2015 and the Political Agreement were submitted to the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadera, on 19 April. On 8 July, the President issued a decree establishing an 11-member committee to follow up on the recommendations. The committee was tasked with offering strategic guidance to the presidency on the implementation of those recommendations as well as of the residual recommendations from the Bangui Forum. On 1 August, the President signed a decree designating the representatives of the committee from the presidential majority, opposition parties, including Gabriel Jean-Edouard Koyambounou as the coordinator leading the committee, civil society organizations and religious leaders. Meanwhile, internal divisions within the political opposition that emerged during the republican dialogue persisted. On 5 August, the Mouvement de libération du peuple centrafricain formally excluded Mr. Koyambounou from its ranks.
4. During its press conference of 14 July, the Groupe d’action des organisations de la société civile pour la défense de la Constitution du 30 mars 2016, a civil society platform created on 8 July, called for mobilization against constitutional reform. Pro-government organizations Front républicain and Galaxie nationale centrafricaine publicly supported constitutional revision. On 6 August, the presidential majority organized peaceful demonstrations across the country to garner support for constitutional reform.
5. On 9 August, the Bureau of the National Assembly requested the Government to initiate the constitutional referendum process and to establish an inclusive constituent assembly to draft a new constitution. On 26 August, a drafting committee comprising 53 members from the National Assembly, the Government, political parties including the opposition, civil society groups and religious leaders, among others, was established by presidential decree. The committee was tasked with submitting a draft proposal for a new constitution to the presidency within three months following its instalment. The President of the Central African Republic appointed the members of the drafting committee by decree on 12 September. Various political and civil society actors, including the Catholic Church, refused a seat on the committee.
6. On 27 August, the Bloc républicain pour la défense de la Constitution, a group created on 22 July involving key opposition figures, organized a peaceful demonstration against any reform to the current Constitution.
7. Between 22 August and 14 September, the Constitutional Court received three separate challenges with regard to the constitutionality of the decree establishing the committee to draft a new constitution from the President of the opposition party, the Parti africain pour une transformation radicale et intégrale des États, and civil society groups Bloc républicain pour la défense de la Constitution and Groupe d’action des organisations de la société civile pour la défense de la Constitution du 30 mars 2016. During rallies supported by the pro-government Galaxie nationale centrafricaine on 8 and 9 September, attendees called for the resignation of the President and Vice - President of the Constitutional Court.
8. On 23 September, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the processes undertaken to draft a new constitution, thereby annulling the presidential decrees establishing and appointing the drafting committee for a new constitution.
The Court clarified that the President could initiate constitutional reform through a referendum procedure in accordance with the Constitution. On 26 September, a government spokesperson issued a statement welcoming the Court’s decision, attributing it as evidence of judicial independence.
9. On 26 September, Radio Ndeke Luka, a Central African radio station, reported that it had received threats to stop covering matters relating to constitutional reform.
On 5 October, the High Council of Communication issued a press release expressing concern regarding censorship and urged the media to exercise their freedom to inform.
10. On 20 and 21 July, the Bank of Central African States and the Central African Monetary Union held extraordinary sessions to discuss the implications of the law on cryptocurrency, which had been adopted as legal tender in the Central African Republic on 21 April. Recommendations focused on the acceleration of efforts to develop a regulatory framework for cryptoassets in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community. On 25 July, the Government launched its national cryptocurrency market, the Sango Project, with the online sale of Sango Coin, aiming to streamline required procedures for investments by tying Sango Coin to government services. On 29 August, the Constitutional Court issued a decision declaring several features of the Sango Project as unconstitutional, including the proposed sale of Central African citizenship, e-residency and national land and resources through the purchase of Sango Coin.
11. On 1 September, the National Assembly adopted an amended budget bill for 2022, which reduced appropriations from $514 million to $392 million, of which $187 million is expected to be generated from domestic resources and $205 million from external resources. The Minister of Finance and Budget recalled that the national budget had been adversely affected by rising oil and food prices, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and decreased international financial support. Parliamentarians appealed to the Government to take measures necessary to address the deficit through the improved management of public finances.
12. On 2 September, the National Assembly concluded its special session on the amended budget bill for 2022, during which it also adopted laws against human trafficking and on magistrates’ pensions.