MINUSCA calls on Central Africans to collect voter cards
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The United Nations Integrated Multidimensional Stabilization Mission in Central African Republic (MINUSCA) on Thursday relayed the call of the National Elections Authority (NEA) to Central Africans to collect their voter cards for next Sunday's polls.
On Sunday Central Africans are due to elect their president and members of parliament in the first elections held since the signing of a peace agreement in February 2019 by the Central African government and 14 armed groups in the country.
Collection of voter cards in Central African Republic (CAR) has been ongoing since December 19 and will continue until the election day December 27 inclusive, NEA said.
The election campaign in CAR has been disrupted by actions of some armed groups and by the spread of rumours.
"MINUSCA, in support of the Central African authorities and with their partners, responded to these disturbances. The UN Mission has mobilised peacekeepers throughout the country to counter any attempt at destabilisation by armed groups," it said.
"MINUSCA wishes to reassure the population that the situation is under control and that in most parts of CAR voters are collecting their cards to cast their ballots on December 27," the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative in the country, Mankeur Ndiaye, said Wednesday.
The latter urged Central Africans to "not give in to panic, intoxication and rumours aimed at discouraging them".
The MINUSCA force and police have also stepped up security patrols on the main roads leading to the capital Bangui.
On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron and Central African President Faustin-Archange Touadéra had a telephone conversation on the situation in CAR.
In a statement issued by the Elysée Palace, the two heads of state welcomed and expressed their support for MINUSCA and its peacekeepers.
"At the request of President Touadéra and with the agreement of MINUSCA, the President of the French Republic has ordered the conduct of a mission of overflight of Central African territory by fighter aircraft," said the communiqué issued by the Elysée.
The overflight mission "marks France's condemnation of attempts to destabilise the country," the French presidency said.
-0- PANA TNDD/JSG/MTA/AR 24Dec2020
