ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The head of the United Nations' peacekeeping mission (MINUSCA) in Central African Republic called on the Security Council to loosen an arms embargo against the country and prepare for the rehabilitation of its military.
His request coincides with worsening lawlessness in the capital Bangui, where militia attacks and tit-for-tat violence have killed about 90 people since September, prompting calls from politicians and civilians to rearm the military.
The violence has jeopardised Pope Francis's plans to visit the country and further delayed elections to Dec. 13.
"The rearming of FACA (the Central African military), a crucial question, is part of the process of security reform," U.N. mission chief Parfait Onanga-Anyanga said in a statement.
"Central African Republic needs an army that respects republican principles," he said, without giving a time frame for rearmament.
The U.N. Security Council imposed a weapons embargo on the historically unstable country in December 2013, allowing government security forces to buy arms only if a sanctions committee approves. Government soldiers cannot carry weapons, although police and the gendarmerie can.
Onanga-Anyanga's comments echoed speeches made by politicians, including from transitional President Catherine Samba-Panza, who called for the United Nations to restore the military's weapons and said peacekeepers and French troops had failed to protect civilians.
On Wednesday, hundreds of people marched through the capital to demand the army be given weapons. But General Mohamed Dhaffane, the head of one militia faction, has warned that the rearming the military would further undermine security.
Lewis Mudge, a Human Rights Watch researcher, said members of the army had aligned with anti-balaka militias and helped more than 500 inmates escape the Ngaraba prison on Sept. 28.
He warned that disarmament would work only if a thorough vetting process is established to avoid the recruitment of human rights abusers.
U.N. forces said Wednesday anti-balaka militias attacked a convoy it was escorting multiple times, wounding two peacekeepers and a civilian driver. Witnesses said three civilians were killed when peacekeepers opened fire.
MINUSCA is investigating civilian casualties, a U.N. peacekeeping official said.
The 12,000-strong U.N. mission was launched after mostly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian nation in early 2013, spurring reprisal attacks from mainly Christian anti-balaka militias.
The Seleka later handed power to the transitional government under international pressure.