United Nations – U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, will be leading a Presidential Delegation to attend the inauguration of Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the President-elect, Central African Republic (CAR) on Wednesday.
This is contained in a statement issued by U.S. Mission to the UN on Tuesday in New York.
President Barack Obama appointed Power, along with Jeffrey Hawkins, U.S. Ambassador to the Central African Republic, Department of State; Karen Bass, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Isobel Coleman, U.S. Representative to the UN for UN Management and Reform.
Others are Raymond Mabus, U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Linda Etim, Assistant Administrator for Africa, U.S. Agency for International Development, Gen, David Rodriguez, Commander, U.S. Africa Command and Bruce Wharton, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Department of State.
The statement noted that on Thursday, Power and members of the delegation would travel to Bambari, where they would visit a field office of the UN peacekeeping mission.
In Bambari, it added, the delegation would also visit a polling station and meet with people who were displaced by the conflict in that country, civil society groups, local elected leaders, and some of the families impacted by allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers.
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this will be Power’s fourth trip to CAR as U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN.
It would be recalled that the UN had confirmed allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation against minors by UN peacekeepers in CAR.
The Deputy Spokesman, Farhan Haq, who confirmed the allegation to UN correspondents, said it involved peacekeepers from Congo.
The UN then, announced that a Congolese battalion in Bambari is being sent home, starting on Feb. 25, because of previous allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation.
NAN recalls that general elections were held in the CAR on Dec, 30, 2015 to elect the President and National Assembly.
As no presidential candidate received more than 50 per cent of the vote, and following the annulling of the results of the National Assembly elections by the Transitional Constitutional Court, a second round of the presidential elections and a re-run of the parliamentary vote, took place on Feb. 14.
The elections were delayed several times.
Following the second round of the presidential elections, former Prime Minister Touadéra of the Union for Central African Renewal was declared the winner with 63 per cent of the vote, defeating independent candidate Anicet-Georges Dologuélé, another former Prime Minister. (NAN)