Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Central Africa and the activities of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (S/2016/996)

I. Introduction

1. The present report is submitted pursuant to the request contained in the statement of the President of the Security Council dated 11 June 2015 (S/PRST/2015/12), in which the Council requested me to keep it informed of the activities of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA). It provides an assessment of the major political and security trends in the Central African subregion since my previous report, dated 25 May 2016 (S/2016/482) and provides an update on progress made in the implementation of the mandate of UNOCA and on efforts to implement the United Nations regional strategy to address the threat and impact of the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) (see S/2012/481).

II. Major developments in the Central African subregion A. Political, peace and security developments and trends

1. The political landscape of the subregion continued to be dominated by preparations for and the conducting and aftermath of electoral processes, a number of which were marked by serious tensions and violence both before and after the electoral processes were conducted.

2. The fight against Boko Haram, including in the context of the Multinational Joint Task Force, continued during the reporting period. The significant progress achieved by the Joint Task Force notwithstanding, the Boko Haram crisis continued in the Lake Chad basin. In parallel, national, regional and international efforts to combat LRA continued, against a backdrop of the planned withdrawal of Ugandan forces from the African Union Regional Task Force and its likely impact on the strategy to counter LRA.

3. The challenging economic situation in the subregion, owing to the slump in global oil prices and difficulties in diversifying the economy and achieving progresin economic integration, continued to contribute to political and social tensions.