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United Nations, US: The UN peacekeeping chief warned Thursday about potential spill over from Sudan’s war to undermine nascent stability in the Central African Republic, including paramilitary operations.
Last week, an armed group attacked a patrol by the UN mission in the CAR, killing a Zambian peacekeeper.
Among the world’s poorest countries, the CAR shares a border with Sudan, which has been plunged into devastating conflict between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023.
Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix highlighted the armed group attacking the CAR mission during a Security Council meeting Thursday, and a report released by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s office noted attacks in the region as well.
“The security situation remains fragile in border areas,” Lacroix told the UN Security Council, referring to the CAR.
“In the northeast, on the border with Sudan, instability is characterized by the overflow of Sudanese conflict, including incursions by armed groups,” he added.
The Central African Republic is also reckoning with rising numbers of Sudanese refugees fleeing the conflict, with the UN report estimating 36,642 living in the country as of June 1.
“The Sudanese conflict is a real threat. Armed groups are crossing our borders, recruiting young people and compromising our sovereignty,” said CAR UN ambassador Marius Aristide Hoja Nzessioue.
Lacroix said the Central African Republic was at a “delicate juncture,” adding that support for the progress made toward upcoming elections from the international community “remains essential.”
“If these efforts are sustained...the Central African Republic has the potential to become a true success story — not only for Central Africans, but also for Peacekeeping and for this Security Council,” Lacroix said.

BRUSSELS: The EU’s 27 leaders on Thursday agreed to extend sanctions on Russia for another six months, resolving fears that Kremlin-friendly Hungary would let the measures lapse, officials said.
The decision at a summit in Brussels means that the EU’s sweeping sanctions over the war in Ukraine, including the freezing of more than 200 billion euros ($234 billion) in Russian central bank assets, will remain in force until at least early 2026.
It comes after officials said they were preparing contingency plans to keep the bloc’s economic punishment on Moscow in place should Hungarian leader Viktor Orban refuse to budge.
EU counterparts had feared a refusal by Budapest to renew the measures could blow a massive hole in the leverage the bloc holds over Russia as the United States presses peace efforts.
Orban took the decision to the wire the last time the sanctions — which need to be extended every six months — came up for renewal in January.
But while the EU made sure its existing measures will remain in place, it failed to get clearance on a new package of sanctions due to a blockage by Hungary’s ally Slovakia.
Slovakian leader Roberto Fico refused at the summit to greenlight the new round of sanctions due to a separate dispute with Brussels over plans to cut off imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027.
Slovakia remains dependent on Russian gas imports and earns money from transit fees for supplies piped across its territory.
Fico held talks with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen earlier on Thursday but failed to get the concessions he wants and announced he would hold up approval of the sanctions package.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky urged EU leaders in a video address to adopt the strong package “targeting Russia’s oil trade, shadow tanker fleet, banks, and supply chains that bring equipment or parts for making weapons.”
Officials say, however, that a push to lower a price cap on Russian oil exports has been shelved after Washington failed to back the push as part of a broader G7 initiative.