Activities of armed groups in the volatile Central African Republic have increased, complicating a security landscape that has seen a spillover of the conflict in neighbouring Sudan, U.
The panel of experts cite confirmed reports of air raids by the Sudanese military around border areas and of fighters from the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces crossing over to recruit from armed groups in the Central African Republic. Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital Khartoum.
The U. The expert panel, which monitors sanctions on mercenaries and armed groups in the Central African Republic, said the U. It said new refugees, the vast majority of women and children, arrive at the Korsi refugee camp in the northern city of Birao every week. The war in Sudan has also disrupted the important trade and transportation route between the Central African Republic and Sudan's Darfur region through the border at Am Dafok.
That has left people in Vakaga and neighbouring Haute-Kotto more insecure over the past year and aid deliveries slower and more expensive, the panel said. The Central African Republic remains one of the poorest countries in the world despite its vast mineral wealth, including gold and diamonds Rebel groups have operated with impunity across the country over the past decade, thwarting mining exploration by foreign companies.
The country has been in conflict since when predominantly Muslim rebels seized power and forced then-President Francois Bozize from office. Mostly Christian militias fought back. A peace deal did not end the fighting and six of the 14 armed groups that signed later quit the agreement. The Coalition of Patriots for Change, an alliance of rebel groups aligned with Bozize, was founded in the aftermath of the agreement, but the experts cited no progress and the splintering of some rebel groups.
