UNITED NATIONS,Dec 12 (APP): Pakistan has commended the role of UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) in preventive diplomacy in the region, while echoing concerns over the “complex picture” characterized by many political transitions, security challenges and humanitarian crises.
“Regional ownership and African leadership must remain central to this work,” Pakistani delegate Gul Qaiser Sarwani told the UN Security Council on Thursday.
UNOCA — based in Libreville, Gabon — is a political mission, established in 2011, to promote peace and security in Central Africa.
Speaking in a debate in the working of UNOCA, Sarwani, a counsellor & political coordinator at the Pakistan Mission to the UN,
voiced concern over recurring violence in the Lake Chad Basin and the upsurge of increasingly sophisticated terrorist attacks, underlining the urgency of strengthening the Multinational Joint Task Force.
“We reiterate the call for predictable and sustainable financing for such African-led initiatives,” he stressed.
Highlighting the humanitarian crisis in the subregion, the Pakistani delegate said over 9.6 million people remain displaced, with Chad alone hosting 1.47 million refugees, including 1.3 million from Sudan.
“That is a huge burden,” Sarwani said, adding that these pressures, combined with rising climate shocks and food insecurity, call for enhanced international solidarity, development financing, and support to host countries and communities.
“The root causes of instability, including poverty, governance deficits, debt distress and the inequities of the global financial system, must be addressed through, reform of international financial institutions, and equitable access to development financing,” he said.
“These are issues that require a comprehensive approach based on the interlinkages between durable peace and development,” Pakistani delegate added.
At the outset, Abdou Abarry, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Central Africa and Head of UNOCA, told the 15-member Council that countries in Central Africa are registering electoral progress and notching some security gains, even as climate shocks and increasingly sophisticated terrorist attacks continue to drive human misery across the subregion.
“Over the past six months, Central Africa has achieved considerable progress, even though it continues to face challenges,” he said.
Giving a broad overview of recent regional developments, he sounded alarm over the worsening crisis in Sudan and ongoing security challenges in the Lake Chad Basin, while outlining significant progress in Gabon, the Central African Republic and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, in the Lake Chad Basin, “Boko-Haram affiliate groups continue to demonstrate their ability to adapt themselves to the operations undertaken by the security forces of the four affected countries” — namely, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria — with women and children hit hardest by the resulting violence.
Calling for stronger support for the Multinational Joint Taskforce working to combat that terrorist threat, Abarry sounded alarm over Sudan’s security and humanitarian crises. Since the fall of the city of El Fasher in November to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, more than 12,000 people have joined the 1.2 million Sudanese refugees that had already fled to neighbouring Chad.
Also briefing the Council was Christelle Hure, Regional Head of Advocacy for the Norwegian Refugee Council, who highlighted the alarming education situation in the region.
She said that, as of August 2025, nearly 5,800 schools across the region were closed — leaving over 1.2 million children out of school — in an environment where looting, arson, killings, and abductions are frequent.
“When school doors closed, protection risks rise sharply, especially for girls, who face increased exposure to gender-based violence, child marriage, early pregnancy, child labour, and recruitment by armed groups,” Ms. Hure said.
APP/ift
