Funding for MISCA

18 March 2014 defenceWeb

In the space of two days more than US$ five million has been donated to the African Union (AU) in support of various peace and stability efforts on the continent.

Japanese ambassador to Ethiopia and the country’s permanent representative at the AU gave US$ five million to Smail Chergui, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, less than 24 hours after the Namibian Ambassador to the East African country, Anne Mamakau, pledged half a million dollars to the continental body.

An AU statement said the Japanese contribution would go towards aiding the police and civilian component of the African-led International Support Mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) (MISCA) as well as efforts to bring peace and stability to Sudan and the continent’s newest state, South Sudan.

Accepting the funding Chergui said: “This contribution comes just as the AU finds itself on the cusp of significant improvements in CAR but much remains to be done to find a lasting solution to conflicts in the region”.

Ambassador Kazuhiro Suzuki was appreciate of progress made by MISCA since its deployment in December 19 and said the contribution from his country was “an acknowledgement of the value of the AU intervention in CAR as well as Africa’s ability to address this and other conflicts in the region”.

The Namibian donation was in response to a request by the AU Peace and Security Council in February for member states to mobilise support for MISCA in its efforts to resolve what Chergui called “the multi-dimensional crisis” in the CAR.