African Union Authorizes Larger Peacekeeping Force for CAR
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The African Union (AU) on Friday authorized the deployment of a larger peacekeeping force for Central African Republic (CAR) to help stabilize the security situation there.
The AU's decision-making body, the Peace and Security Council (PSC), said after a meeting that starting from August 1, an existing regional mission called MICOPAX will be rolled into a larger peacekeeping mission, the African-led International Support Mission in CAR (AFISM-CAR).
AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Ramtane Lamamra told reporters that the new mission will be "larger and hopefully stronger with all the resources that it needs to accomplish efficiently its mandate."
AU officials said AFISM-CAR will have a strength of 3,652 people, of which 3,500 are uniformed personnel and the rest civilians, Xinhua reported.
The countries in the sub-region have reached a commitment of 2, 000, and the AU will call on its member states to contribute and fill the gap.
"There is still a gap of 1600; the gap is supposed to be filled thanks to contributions from the rest of the continent of Africa, beyond the region," Lamamra said.
"So, we'll immediately be informing whole the membership of the AU of this decision, calling for volunteering countries to express themselves and to specify what kind of contribution they intend to make."
