General Tumenta to head 10,000 UN troops in CAR

As part of efforts by the United Nations Organisation to restore peace that has eluded the Central African Republic (CAR) - a nation in a rocky political transition – the organisation has decided to “re-hats” some of the African troops currently serving in the war-ravage nation.

UN spokesperson announced in a statement on Thursday that Cameroon’s Major General Martin Chomu Tumenta has been appointed to head the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

According to the UN, the graduate from the Levenworth military school in the United States and the Joint Military School (EMIA) in Yaounde will head a the new Mission that will initially comprise up to 10,000 military personnel, including 240 military observers and 200 staff officers, as well as 1,800 police personnel.

Tumenta, a graduate from the War College in France and the Peacekeeping School in Egypt will take up his appointment when MINUSCA officially takes authority from the African-led International Support Mission in CAR (MISCA), which he currently leads.

General Tumenta has been MISCA Commander since December 19, 2013. Prior to that, he served as Commander of several military legions in Cameroon and held other important positions in the Ministry of Defence including Human Resources Director.

Since March 2013, violence in CAR has reached unprecedented levels. Killings, acts of looting and other violations of human rights have increased as a political transition that started in January 2012 has progressed. By February 2014, a growing number of analysts and officials, including from the UN, were expressing serious concerns over the degree of human rights violations and had taken to describing the situation in chilling terms.

Beginning early December last year, Christians, but more so members of the Muslim minority in CAR, risk their lives each time they venture out of their now segregated neighbourhoods–a troubling sign of a deepening religious divide. Killings happen daily. On occasion, cheering crowds have participated in chilling acts of lynching, only to return to normal life thereafter, as if nothing happened.

All started when a power-sharing agreement signed in Libreville, Gabon in January 2013 between the Seleka, then President François Bozizé and the local political opposition ended on 24 March when the Seleka, frustrated by Bozizé’s refusal to effectively share power, took control of the government.