Statement by Mr.Dmitry Polyanskiy, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, at the Security Council on the technical extension of the UN stabilization mission in the CAR
We have just supported a so-called technical extension of the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic for one month.
Today the Council has maintained unity on this issue, which is very encouraging. For that to continue to be the case in future, the French penholders will have to make major additional efforts if they still want to revisit their initial ambitious draft, which we have been discussing for the past month. That is quite easy to do.
The starting point must be an understanding that there is work in the Central African Republic for all who genuinely want to help the country finally get back on its feet, especially given that France and our Western partners generally have repeatedly told us that the Central African Republic is not an area to be competed over but rather a platform for collaborating on finding solutions that can extricate the country from its crisis.
Now we have to live up to that premise and set aside reluctance based on past experiences, egotism and parochial national interests. Anyone who approaches the issue with good intentions should have no hidden agendas or fear of competition. Those are the principles that guide us. We are proactively helping the Central African Republic with the knowledge and support of the leadership and people of the country, and we would like our efforts to be duly reflected in the French draft.
The fact that the concerns of our United States colleagues were meticulously and quickly addressed inspires optimism. Since their views were heard, please listen to ours as well.
We are ready to continue to work on the draft text in a spirit of mutual respect so that a month from now, it will not be necessary to jeopardize the unity of the Council, which is so important to us and our friends in the Central African Republic, on the topic we are discussing today.
