Peacebuilding Commission

Organizational Committee

6^th Meeting (AM)

Peacebuilding commission places Central African Republic on agenda;

Elects Belgium chair of new country-specific configuration

The Peacebuilding Commission today decided to place the Central African Republic on its agenda, in response to a request made by that country in March, and elected Belgium, by acclamation, as chair of the Commission’s newest country-specific configuration.

Thanking the 31-member body for its show of commitment, the country’s President, François Bozizé, said the new national authorities had worked hard to usher in a period of economic recovery following changes to the Government in March 2003.  The Central African Republic had emerged from a long series of recurrent political and socio-economic crises, which had resulted in a peace agreement being signed with armed groups as recently as 9 May.

He said one of the country’s priorities was to rebuild its institutions, particularly the judiciary.  The International Criminal Court had already been approached by the Government to work on a number of cases based in the Central African Republic.

He went on to say that, despite considerable achievements, much remained to be done to bring stability to the country.  New negotiations were currently taking place towards a global peace agreement involving all political and armed groups, which was seen as an essential ingredient to national reconciliation and lasting peace.  To foster social cohesion and deepen democratic processes, the Government was committed to investing the necessary human and material resources, with experts having already been appointed and working towards those results.

He said that Belgium, newly-elected chair of the Central African Republic configuration, had sent experts to a national seminar on the reform of the security sector in April.  Much of the financial support for such programmes had come from the Peacebuilding Fund, which was also helping support disarmament, demobilization and reintegration efforts, and activities to strengthen good governance.

The representative of Belgium praised the Commission’s decision, adding that the international community was indispensable in seeing the country’s initial efforts to their end.  The much-awaited global agreement between the Government and several armed groups in Libreville, which was expected to be concluded soon, would mark the start of that process.

Egypt, France, Guinea-Bissau, Brazil, El Salvador and Indonesia congratulated the Central African Republic on the outcome of today’s meeting.  The representative of the European Community also spoke.

The Chairman of the Peacebuilding Commission, Yukio Takasu ( Japan), said he would soon convey a letter to the President of the Security Council informing him of the Commission’s decision, and that it would shortly begin its strategic process with the Central African Republic.

He said the Commission -- established concurrently by the General Assembly and Security Council -- would remain in close contact with the Council throughout the process.

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For information media • not an official record