The construction of the first mixed border post in the Central African Republic (CAR) and its equipment were financed by MINUSCA to the tune of 250 million CFA francs.
The mixed border post is located 13km from Bembere, in the Lim-Pende prefecture (north-west of the CAR) and will house six State services.
It was built thanks to MINUSCA, as part of its support to the Central African Government in the implementation of the National Policy for the Management of Border Areas (PNGEF) and the extension of the presence and authority of the State.
The inauguration of this mixed border post in the Yade region, near the border with Chad, no longer seems far away, a little over five months after the official launch of the work, on August 8, 2024, by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Central African Republic, the Minister of Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Local Development (MATDDL) and Resident Minister of the Lim Pende Prefecture, and the Minister of the Interior and Public Security (MISP), in the presence of local authorities and local stakeholders.
“The building is very beautiful,” emphasizes Clarisse, a restaurateur located about 100 meters from the post. “It’s a very good achievement,” says Victor Miabe, a customs officer at the Bemal post (north-west) and perhaps one of the future civil servants who will serve in this infrastructure.
According to the press statement, the building consists of an administrative part housing six services – gendarmerie, police, customs, water and forests, livestock and phytosanitary service – and a residential area, with dormitories, kitchen and toilets. Its construction and equipment were financed by MINUSCA to the tune of 250 million CFA francs.
While thanking MINUSCA, officials from the State services concerned highlight the impact that the mixed post will have compared to Bemal, located 13km from Bembere, where the six services are currently
located in separate buildings.
“In Bemal we do not have a parking lot while at the Bembéré mixed post, there are spaces reserved for that. We will also be able to unload vehicles to know exactly what goods are being transported. We will definitely work better there,” says the customs officer. A point of view shared by Mitterrand Bero, another government official, who stated “the current difficult working conditions”. “With the new building, we will work better. We will be sheltered from the sun and the rain,” he says.
“I will be happy to go to work in the new offices. We hope to work together with our colleagues on the other side of the border, that is to say the Chadians,” explains Joseph Binguibanda, head of the Bemal phytosanitary post.
The new mixed post and its painted buildings also please the local population, especially Severine Deo for whom it is proof that the work between MINUSCA and the Government is bearing fruit.
“This post is already doing us a lot of good. Even before it is operational, we know that it is already helping us,” says this resident of the region, pleading for “what has been built here to be built elsewhere if possible.”
For Clarisse Naryom, she sees above all the security impact: “Peace has now settled here. The armed men who used to make incursions no longer do so. We live well now. We no longer flee into the bush. The post that was built for us is really good. We even dug a borehole. This solves the water problem that we had before. With this help from MINUSCA, we have better living conditions.” She now hopes to be able to increase her income when the offices are operational.
While preparations for the inauguration and commissioning of the Bembéré mixed post are underway, MINUSCA organized a training session on integrated border management at a mixed border post from 7 to 9
January, which brought together 15 gendarmes and 15 police officers from Ngaoundaye, Bémal and Paoua.
According to Abigaelle Dipoum Languidia, head of the UNPOL post in Paoua, “this training aims to train the ISF, equip them with standard procedures for managing a mixed post in border areas, relating to movement flows, vehicle control, record keeping and respect for human rights in the exercise of their functions.”
For the sub-prefect of Paoua, Boniface Desire Bissade, “with several borders, there must be control, there must be security. And for all of this, people should be trained so that they can really work well.” As for the participants, they call on MINUSCA to support the construction of mixed border posts in other parts of the CAR such as Am-Dafock, Bambouti, Gamboula, Mobaye and Ndere.
TE/Sf/fss/gik/APA