UN Warns Against Early Peacekeeper Exit as Sudan War Spills Into Central African Republic

BANGUI — The United Nations warned on Tuesday against a premature withdrawal of its peacekeepers from the Central African Republic (CAR), as the war in Sudan spills over into the country, according to a report of the Security Council briefing carried by allAfrica.

The top UN official in CAR, Valentine Rugwabiza, told the Security Council that violence is rising in the east. She said the war in Sudan is part of the cause and is complicating plans for a gradual drawdown of the UN peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA.

Rugwabiza cited an attack on 30 June by armed groups on Am-Dafock, a town bordering Sudan. According to her account, the attack killed civilians and members of national security forces, displaced 17,000 civilians and injured six UN peacekeepers. She said the rapid response of MINUSCA prevented far more deaths. The armed group held the town for only five days before its fighters retreated across the border into Sudan.

She asked the council to keep MINUSCA at adequate force levels and capabilities while renewing its mandate. "In this regard, I plead with the council, as it prepares to renew MINUSCA's mandate, to maintain MINUSCA with adequate force levels and capabilities during the critical consolidation phase," she said.

The northeast and southeast remain of particular concern, the source reported, especially around mining sites and along routes used by pastoral farmers, which are often a source of community tensions. In the southeast, 26 serious incidents were recorded between June and September, attributed to suspected members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). They included reports of rape and sexual slavery and the abduction of 68 civilians, around 40 of them children. The source also said the Azandé Ani Kpi Gbé (AAKG) militia continues to threaten local populations.

Rugwabiza announced on Monday the release of three hostages held since December 2025, including the sub-prefect of Bambouti, after several months of mediation with local leaders.

Progress has also been made. According to the UN, 1,907 fighters have been disarmed and demobilised since July 2025, although their economic reintegration remains difficult and some cannot be located. As of 1 October, 127 of the 177 municipalities had installed their councils. The remaining polls, postponed for lack of funds and logistics, are due on 25 October.

Living conditions have not kept pace. The source said nearly two million Central Africans, or 31 per cent of the population, faced acute food insecurity between April and August. At the start of October, the UN humanitarian plan was 46.6 per cent funded.

The Security Council must decide before mid-November whether to renew MINUSCA's mandate. The mission has already closed several bases in regions considered stable and handed some responsibilities to national authorities. The source did not say which regions or responsibilities were involved.

Background

MINUSCA was deployed in 2014, a year after the Séléka, a mainly Muslim coalition, seized power and overthrew then-President François Bozizé. The takeover was followed by violence, looting, massacres of civilians and sexual violence.

According to the source, Séléka has since been dissolved. Two presidential elections have been held since then. A 2019 peace agreement brought 14 armed groups into a political process. The source said vast areas remain unstable and that the mission currently has more than 12,000 peacekeepers.

The report relies on a single source, the allAfrica republication of the UN briefing. Details of the Sudan link, including how many fighters crossed the border, were not further specified in the source.