UN lifts last restriction on arms for Central African Republic government, but not for mercenaries

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has lifted a requirement that the Central African Republic get advance U.N. approval for arms purchases and transfers for its security forces. But it kept an arms embargo on mercenaries and all other armed groups despite vehement opposition from the country’s government. The resolution ending all restrictions on arms for the government  was approved Thursday by a vote of 13-0 with Russia and China abstaining. Mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group have been working in the Central African Republic at the government’s request, and until the vote most diplomats were uncertain whether Russia would veto the resolution or abstain. CAR’s Foreign Minister Sylvie Baïpo-Temon said the arms embargo, imposed in 2013, should have been lifted entirely.