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Bangui calls for UN arms embargo to be lifted

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6640235/Bangui-calls-UN-arms-embargo-lifted.html

By AFP PUBLISHED: 08:35 EST, 28 January 2019 | UPDATED: 10:00 EST, 28 January 2019

The prime minister of Central African Republic led a rally of around 3,000 people on Monday calling for a global arms embargo to be lifted ahead of a UN meeting later this week.

The mineral-rich country, wracked by ethnic and religious conflict since 2013, has been subject to a UN Security Council arms and ammunition embargo for the past five years.

Speaking on a podium in Bangui's central Place des Martyrs, Prime Minister Mathieu Simplice Sarandji said: "This is a lock that deserves to be opened, this is an embargo which strikes our defence and security forces."

"The government respects the embargo while armed groups receive weapons! The people of Central African Republic can not understand this law of double standards," he said to cheers from the crowds in the capital.

The UN Security Council will on Thursday decide whether to renew the embargo, which bans weapon supplies to the country unless approved by a UN sanctions committee.

The authorities in Bangui have repeatedly called on the UN to lift the embargo.

The sanctions are aimed at ensuring imported weapons do not end up in the hands of militias in the corruption-prone country.

The committee has previously approved shipments of weapons from France and Russia but Chinese weapons deliveries have been blocked.

A UN report last year said "the recent acquisition of arms by the government has prompted factions" of militias to rearm.

Several protesters on Monday blamed UN Security Council member France for maintaining the embargo.

"We have soldiers who no longer work because of the embargo. It's because of France," said demonstrator Pierre.

"Only the army can ensure the security of CAR. We want Central African Republic to regain its sovereignty, we want the total lifting of the embargo," said another protester, Fiacre.

One of the world's poorest nations, Central African Republic has struggled to recover from a 2013 civil war that erupted when President Francois Bozize, a Christian, was overthrown by mainly Muslim Seleka rebels.

In response, Christians, who account for about 80 percent of the population, organised vigilante units dubbed "anti-Balaka" in reference to the balaka machetes used by Seleka rebels.

Thousands of people have died in the violence, 700,000 been internally displaced and another 570,000 have fled abroad.