CAR President Calls for African Security Council Seat, Climate Justice as Global Aid Collapses

President Faustin-Archange Touadéra of the Central African Republic delivered one of the most pointed addresses of the 81st United Nations General Assembly session, warning that collapsing humanitarian funding and Security Council paralysis are handing opportunities to armed groups across fragile states. Weaving together his country's hard-won peace gains, the spillover of Sudan's war, and demands for climate compensation and colonial reparations, Touadéra positioned the CAR as both a cautionary tale and a model for multilateral reform.

• CAR leader warns humanitarian funding has hit its lowest level since 2016 while over 147 million people face acute food insecurity caused by conflict
• 11 of 14 armed groups in the Central African Republic have voluntarily disbanded under a negotiated peace agreement, with the last two continuing disarmament
• Touadéra demands at least one permanent Security Council seat for Africa, calling the body's 1945 structure obsolete for a continent of 1.3 billion people
• Three demands for COP31 in Antalya: a fully operational Loss and Damage Fund, stronger adaptation financing, and compensation for Congo Basin ecosystem services
• Sudan war overwhelms CAR border regions, with over 27,000 refugees doubling the population of the city of Birao and sparking new tensions armed groups exploit
• Colonial reparations framed as "justice for the future", including restitution of cultural goods, debt relief, and equitable cooperation

President Faustin-Archange Touadéra opened his address to the General Assembly with an unsparing assessment of the global security landscape, painting a picture of a multilateral system failing the people it was built to protect.