UN chief and French president discuss grave situation in CAR

The grave situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) was the focus of talks between UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and French President Francois Hollande. They noted that this is a complex emergency affecting the whole population, in particular women and children from all communities. A statement from the Spokespersons' office says the UN Secretary-General expressed particular concern about increasing sectarian violence and violence between communities. The United Nations has already deployed a team of human rights officers to monitor the ongoing violence against civilians and is making arrangements for the deployment of a more permanent team for early 2014. They discussed ongoing efforts to support African-led International Support Mission to the Central African Republic (MISCA), and the need to address capacity constraints by raising the number of personnel capable of providing security to the territory, undertake disarmament and support the organization of elections. As requested by the Security Council, the United Nations has already started contingency planning and preparations for the potential transformation of MISCA into a United Nations peacekeeping operation. The statement concludes that further consultations with members of the Security Council and with the African Union will be expeditiously undertaken in the coming days.