Earlier this week, officials from the government of the Central African Republic met with representatives from the major rebel groups in the country in an effort to formalize a path to peace. The discussion culminated in an “immediate ceasefire” accord on Monday, 19 June, which guaranteed the rebel groups political representation in exchange for their ending of violence and blockades against the CAR government and civilians. The effort to secure a formal peace in CAR was prompted by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ declaration this month about rapidly deteriorating security and stability in the country. Therefore, the parties to the accord seemed to be committed to transparency when they explicitly called for monitoring by the international community as part of the agreement. However, mere hours after the agreement was signed, violence broke out yet again in the CAR town of Bria, which rebel group clashes have continuously plagued since 2013. Tuesday’s violence included the looting and burning of residents’ houses, leading to around 100 casualties, although the toll is expected to rise. A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Rebirth of CAR, a group formerly affiliated with the Muslim Seleka coalition, asserted that his group must protect itself from attacks despite signing the accord. It remains unclear which armed group is being blamed for renewing the violence in the city. However, experts in the country had been pessimistic about the agreement’s chances of success since even before its signing. According to the President of the Central African League of Human Rights, Joseph Bindoumi, the most recent peace deal was just one of many that had also previously fallen through, and therefore he did not believe the armed groups saw the current deal as actually binding. Lewis Mudge, a researcher in the African Division of ICRtoP member Human Rights Watch, had questioned if the leaders of the rebel groups even had enough control over their men to force them to stand down from the violence. It is unclear when the two sides will seek to create another deal, if any.
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