Council Decision 2013/798/CFSP of 23 December 2013 concerning restrictive measures against the Central African Republic

Ali Darassa was listed on 21 December 2021 pursuant to paragraph 20 and paragraph 21 (b) of resolution 2399 (2018), extended by resolution 2588 (2021), for engaging in or providing support for acts that undermine the peace, stability or security of the Central African Republic, including acts that threaten or impede the stabilization and reconciliation process or that fuel violence; and for being involved in planning, directing, or committing acts in the Central African Republic that violate international human rights law and international humanitarian law, as applicable, or that constitute human rights abuses or violations, including those involving targeting of civilians, ethnic- or religious-based attacks, attacks on civilian objects, including administrative centres, courthouses, schools and hospitals, and abduction and forced displacement.

Additional information

Ali Darassa founded and still leads the Central African Republic (CAR)-based militia group Unité pour la Paix en Centrafrique (UPC), which has killed, tortured, raped, and displaced civilians, committed a large number of abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and engaged in arms trafficking, illegal taxation activities, and warfare against CAR defense and security forces, as well as other militias, since its creation in 2014. In December 2020, he played a leading role in the creation of the Coalition des patriotes pour le changement (CPC) that took up arms to oppose the elections and attempted to enter the capital, in violation of the commitments made by the UPC under the Accord politique pour la paix et la reconciliation (APPR) signed on 6 February 2019.

Fighters under Ali Darassa’s command have committed acts that constitute serious human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law. On 10 November 2014, UPC fighters attacked the villages of Bolo in Ouaka Prefecture and 10 civilians were killed including three elderly women who were burned alive in their homes. On 12 December 2017, UPC and FPRC elements opened fire on a hospital, killing 17 civilians, including 4 children. On 15 November 2018, UPC elements attacked an internally displaced persons camp in Alindao, killing between 70 to 100 civilians.

Under Darassa’s leadership, UPC continued to oppose the restoration of State authority. In 2016, UPC fighters posed a threat to the electoral process on several occasions. On 29 March 2016, UPC fighters fired bullets over an electoral post and wounded several internally displaced persons.

Since December 2020, as one of the leaders of the CPC, Ali Darassa has participated in violations of the APPR, attempts to prevent the legislative and presidential elections and, more broadly, to destabilize the Central African Republic. Due to threats made by UPC fighters under Ali Darassa’s command, voting operations could not take place on 27 December 2020 in areas under UPC’s control, for instance in several areas of the Ouaka and Haut-Mbomou Prefectures. In January 2021, UPC attempted to enter Bangui by force.

B. Entities

2. LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY (alias: a) LRA b) Lord's Resistance Movement (LRM) c) Lord's Resistance Movement/Army (LRM/A)

Address: a) Vakaga, Central African Republic b) Haute-Kotto, Central African Republic c) Basse-Kotto, Central African Republic d) Haut-Mbomou, Central African Republic e) Mbomou, Central African Republic f) HautUolo, Democratic Republic of the Congo g) Bas-Uolo, Democratic Republic of the Congo h) (Reported address: Kafia Kingi (a territory on the border of Sudan and South Sudan whose final status has yet to be determined). As of January 2015, 500 Lord's Resistance Army elements were reportedly expelled from the Sudan.)

Date of UN designation: 7 March 2016.

Other Information: Emerged in northern Uganda in the 1980s. Has engaged in the abduction, killing and mutilation of thousands of civilians in Central Africa, including hundreds in the Central African Republic. The leader is Joseph Kony. INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notice web link: https://www.interpol.int/en/notice/search/une/5932344

Information from the narrative summary of reasons for listing provided by the Sanctions Committee:

The Lord's Resistance Army was listed on 7 March 2016 pursuant to paragraphs 12 and 13 (b), (c), and (d) of Resolution 2262 (2016) as ‘engaging in or providing support for acts that undermine the peace, stability or security of the CAR;’, ‘involved in planning, directing, or committing acts that violate international human rights law or international humanitarian law, as applicable, or that constitute human rights abuses or violations, in the CAR, including acts involving sexual violence, targeting of civilians, ethnic- or religious-based attacks, attacks on schools and hospitals, and abduction and forced displacement;’, ‘recruiting or using children in armed conflict in the CAR, in violation of applicable international law;’ and ‘providing support for armed groups or criminal networks through the illicit exploitation or trade of natural resources, including diamonds, gold, and wildlife products in or from the CAR’.

Additional information:

Emerging in northern Uganda in the 1980s, the LRA has engaged in the abduction, killing, and mutilation of thousands of civilians across central Africa. Under increasing military pressure, Joseph Kony, the LRA's leader, ordered the LRA to withdraw from Uganda in 2005 and 2006. Since then, the LRA has been operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), CAR, South Sudan and reportedly Sudan.

Since December 2013, the LRA has kidnapped, displaced, committed sexual violence against, and killed hundreds of individuals across CAR, and has looted and destroyed civilian property. Concentrated in eastern CAR and reportedly in Kafia Kingi, a territory on the border of Sudan and South Sudan whose final status has yet to be determined but militarily controlled by the former, the LRA raids villages to pillage food and supplies. The fighters set ambushes to attack security forces and steal their equipment when they respond to LRA attacks, and LRA fighters also target and loot villages that do not have a military presence. The LRA has also intensified attacks on diamond and gold mining sites.

LRA cells are frequently accompanied by captives who are forced to work as porters, cooks, and sex slaves. The LRA engages in gender-based violence including rapes of women and young girls.

In December 2013, the LRA abducted dozens of people in Haute-Kotto. The LRA is reported to have been involved in the abductions of hundreds of civilians in CAR since the beginning of 2014.

LRA fighters attacked Obo, in eastern CAR's Haut-Mbomou Prefecture, on several occasions in early 2014.

The LRA continued to carry out attacks in Obo and other locations in southeastern CAR between May and July 2014, including apparently coordinated attacks and abductions in Mbomou Prefecture in early June.

Since at least 2014, the LRA has been involved in elephant poaching and elephant trafficking for revenue generation. The LRA reportedly traffics ivory from Garamba National Park in northern DRC to Darfur, to trade for weapons and supplies. The LRA reportedly transports poached elephant tusks through CAR into Darfur, Sudan to sell. Additionally, as of early 2014, Kony had reportedly ordered LRA fighters to loot diamonds and gold from miners in eastern CAR for transport to Sudan. As of January 2015, 500 Lord's Resistance Army elements were reportedly expelled from the Sudan.

In early February 2015, LRA fighters armed with heavy weapons abducted civilians in Kpangbayanga, Haut-Mbomou, and stole food items.

On April 20, 2015, an LRA attack and the abduction of children from Ndambissoua, southeastern CAR led most of the village residents to flee. And in early July 2015, the LRA attacked several villages in southern Haute-Kotto Prefecture; the attacks involved looting, violence against civilians, burning of houses, and kidnapping.

Since January 2016, attacks imputed to the LRA have multiplied in Mbomou, Haut-Mbomou and Haute-Kotto affecting in particular mining areas in Haute-Kotto. These attacks have involved looting, violence against civilians, destruction of property and abductions. They have led to displacements of the population, including around 700 people who have sought refuge in Bria.

[^E0001]: Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).