Report by Romain Esmenjaud and Sophie Rutenbar, with David Mozersky. Published together with the Stimson Center and the Dickey Center at Dartmouth as part of the Powering Peace initiative.
Executive Summary
The Central African Republic (CAR) is mired in a complex and multi-layered crisis that affects the peace and security of its population and creates a dire humanitarian situation. Multiple peace agreements - such as the Accord pour la Paix et la Réconciliation (APPR) of February 2019 - have recognized that political, economic, and social marginalization are key drivers of the conflict. More than 10 years since the latest crisis started in 2013, the United Nations estimates that close to half of the 6.1 million Central Africans remain in need of humanitarian support. This report looks at the role that electricity access plays in the country’s crisis, how a greater use of renewable energy can help to address this, and highlights a unique opportunity for the international community to support these efforts.
One of the least electrified countries in the world, the CAR has the potential to grow its power sector by investing in renewables, thereby reducing its reliance on imported fuel and diesel generators, and expanding energy access to historically marginalized regions. This approach aligns with the government’s priorities to increase energy production while addressing environmental concerns related to climate change or deforestation. Furthermore, increasing renewable energy resources could assist the CAR population, strengthen efforts at longer-term peace, and bolster the operations and objectives of international partners - including the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), one of the largest peacekeeping missions in the world.
A landlocked country with a limited formal economy, the CAR has historically been governed in a centralized manner by elites in Bangui, with areas beyond the capital relegated to the periphery of the country’s politics. The elites have largely counted on international actors – France in the past, and now Russia and Rwanda – to ensure security, exploit natural resources and even build infrastructure. As a result, the country has some of the lowest development indicators in the world, particularly in remote regions. The rate of electrification is one example: only 15.7 percent of the population has access to electricity, overwhelmingly in the capital. Partly as a consequence of the lack of opportunities and basic services provided by the State, marginalized areas like Northern CAR - with almost no energy access - have seen repeated armed rebellions.
National development plans call for the balanced and equitable development of all regions, including through renewable energy and increased energy infrastructure, which can drive environmental, economic and political gains for the government and local populations. The government, with World Bank and international support, recently launched several new solar projects, with more in the works. Yet, in spite of commitments for equity, the pace of implementation has been slow and most projects are located in the capital or South/South-West region.
MINUSCA is the largest single energy user in the CAR. As such, the mission is uniquely placed to support new renewable energy projects across the country. With a staff of 19,232, including up to 14,400 military and 3,020 police personnel, and a budget of $1.146 billion, MINUSCA consumes close to a fifth of all fuel in the country and close to a quarter of the electricity used nationally. Only three percent of the mission’s power currently comes from renewable energy – lagging well behind the goal of the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Action Plan (UNSCAP) of 80 percent renewable energy by 2030. Given its size, purchasing power, and geographic distribution, MINUSCA can play an important and catalytic role in boosting the use of renewables throughout the country.
MINUSCA’s primary mandates are to protect civilians, extend state authority, support the peace process, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. The CAR poses an extremely difficult context to meet these goals, and the peacekeeping mission faces operational challenges as well. The mission is spread across much of the vast country, and simply resupplying and powering its remote operations is expensive, takes months of planning and requires a significant amount of force capacity for convoys and related security. Access to electricity poses an operational challenge for the mission and other UN and humanitarian actors in the country, and 97 percent of MINUSCA’s energy comes from diesel generators. As a result, the mission is dependent on long, slow and inconsistent diesel supply chains, and faces significant challenges in electrifying its bases and field sites.
In this context, a transition to renewable energy offers MINUSCA multiple benefits: for example, improving the mission’s operational resilience by reducing its dependency on diesel and related convoys, reducing operating costs, improving its environmental footprint, and supporting projects throughout the country that can help advance political and peacebuilding goals, and leave behind a positive legacy. However, several factors have combined to limit the mission’s transition to clean energy in the field, including severe understaffing and resourcing in the mission’s operational and engineering sectors, financial constraints, and a nascent national renewable energy sector – all within a larger global context of UN peacekeeping under pressure. As a result, MINUSCA lags behind other similar UN missions in its transition to renewable energy.
MINUSCA hopes to increase its use of renewables to eight or nine percent by the end of 2025, and while the mission has recently taken steps to install additional solar capacity, it has not yet begun a substantial transition to renewable energy. Opportunities do exist. For example, the mission could lean more aggressively into its renewable energy planning, including by extending plans for Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) beyond Bria and Bouar to new and more remote locations, such as Bossangoa, Ndele, or Birao.
MINUSCA cannot lead this transition on its own, as it has neither the expertise nor the programmatic funding to pursue local community electrification projects. Yet its large energy footprint and purchasing power can serve as a catalyst for new projects, or project expansion, which can be supported by the government and other international partners to benefit local populations. Participating in such projects could be built into MINUSCA’s positive legacy strategy. This offers the potential to better leverage three related trends: the government’s efforts to expand clean energy projects; MINUSCA’s clean energy transition, including in its remote field sites; and the commitment and priorities of various international partners to support clean energy in the CAR. The UN Country Team is well suited to contribute to this effort, both by pursuing similar renewable energy solutions in addition to contributing directly to government priorities on energy.
The report identifies several key findings:
First, increasing access to electricity could support greater peace and help address some of the root causes of the crisis, particularly in peripheral areas. Underdevelopment, as exemplified by the very low rate of electrification, is one of the key drivers of the conflict. The feeling of frustration and marginalization it generates among communities, particularly those based in regions with less infrastructure and public services, have contributed to instability and the emergence of armed groups in peripheral areas. Electricity access is uneven across regions, with existing production facilities and most of the planned future energy projects located in the Bangui area, the Center or the West/South-West. Increasing electricity production and distribution in other regions, such as the North-East, would help address political grievances, strengthen resilience for local populations and create economic opportunities, thereby mitigating the basis for armed groups to recruit fighters. As a significant portion of the Muslim minority lives in these marginalized regions, it could contribute to addressing some of the of the intercommunal and religious tensions that have fuelled the crisis.
Second, renewable energy production is a promising option for CAR. Distributed renewable energy offers significant opportunities to increase electricity production across the country. While hydropower potential is greater in the areas with the largest existing energy infrastructure (the South and South-West), other regions including the Center and North-East benefit from particularly high solar irradiation and therefore high potential for solar photovoltaic (PV). Renewable energy can also help address some of the concerns caused by the disproportionate use of biomass (I.e., deforestation) and fuel (i.e., regular shortage due to supply challenges).
Third, MINUSCA’s reliance on diesel fuel undermines its operational effectiveness and mandate implementation. MINUSCA is almost entirely reliant on power from diesel generators, receiving only three percent of its energy from renewable sources. The country’s geography and complex security situation have resulted in a uniquely challenging operating environment for MINUSCA. The mission must support the distribution of fuel and other necessities to dozens of bases and forward and temporary operating camps in the most difficult of circumstances. As a result, a substantial proportion of the mission’s military resources are devoted to escorting convoys rather than carrying out mandate tasks like the protection of civilians and support for the extension of state authority.
Fourth, MINUSCA is well placed to expand its use of renewable energy and is in a unique position to expand its impact in CAR. The mission is taking steps to increase its use of renewable energy, aiming to almost triple its renewable energy usage to eight or nine percent by the end of 2025, but more can be done. MINUSCA uses approximately 23 percent of the country’s total annual electricity consumption, despite making up less than half of one percent of the country’s population. As a result, any increase in MINUSCA’s renewable energy usage will have a substantial impact on the country’s energy landscape, including by reducing the use of fuel. Moreover, given its significant size, energy footprint and presence all over the country, including in less secure areas, MINUSCA is in a unique position to contribute to the deployment of renewable energy infrastructure in peripheral areas, where it is most needed. Projects that can also extend beyond the UN’s fence can benefit local communities and have knock-on political, economic and peacebuilding benefits across the country, including by providing basic services and opening up social and economic opportunities. A more strategic approach to transitioning to renewable energy would prioritize establishing or expanding renewable energy installations in very remote and challenging locations, like Birao and Obo. These efforts could be bolstered and accelerated by increasing the mission’s engineering resources to levels commensurate with other peacekeeping missions and substantially expanding initial efforts to transition contingent-owned equipment to renewable energy.
Finally, other international partners have a key role to play. MINUSCA could be a catalyst for new renewable energy projects. However, on its own, it is highly limited – by mandate, financial and human resources – in its ability to initiate and develop renewable energy capacity that extends “outside the fence” to benefit local communities. Other partners, including bilateral donors, the World Bank, and multilateral development banks (MDBs), must step up to leverage the opportunities provided by the Government’s plans and the mission’s appetite to transition to renewables, including to benefit communities in areas that might not be as attractive from an economic or business standpoint. UN Country Team (UNCT) agencies, funds and programmes can contribute in their own way to electrification and renewable energy development in CAR, both by supporting government energy priorities and by implementing sustainable energy practices themselves, which will also help mitigate the operational and programmatic impact of fuel shortages. Moreover, these UN entities will remain in CAR for the long-term, in contrast to MINUSCA, meaning that investments in renewable energy have the potential to benefit both UN agencies and the population they serve for years to come.
Recommendations
To MINUSCA
Establish a clear and measurable strategy to bolster MINUSCA’s use of renewable energy, with the initial target to be in line with other UN field operations, then move towards the UN Department of Operational Support (DOS) goal of approaching the worldwide benchmark of 29 percent renewable usage, and ultimately to reach the UNSCAP targets.
· Prioritize the deployment of renewable energy, including through increased collaboration with the CAR government, the UNCT and other international partners involved in supporting the installation of new solar and hydropower projects across the CAR.
· Consider measures to reduce diesel dependence and increase the resilience and sustainability of remote MINUSCA bases, like Birao and Obo, including by prioritizing these locations for the installation of renewable energy sources and considering ways to decentralize support services.
· Advocate to member states and key budget committees to expand and right-size the mission’s facilities management and engineering component to properly support the mission by bringing its staffing in line with other missions facing comparable challenges. MINUSCA had a ratio of one engineering staff member to every 142 authorized military and police personnel members during the 2023-24 fiscal year. Increasing the ratio to 1:50, in line with comparable missions like MONUSCO and UNMISS, would improve service provision for contingents, facilitate mandate implementation, and enable a faster transition to renewable energy.
· Consider the potential of mini or small hydropower plants to sustainably contribute to the energy needs of MINUSCA offices, in areas where it is possible.
Recognize renewable energy installations as one of the most tangible, enduring and sustainable positive opportunities for MINUSCA to leave behind in the context of positive legacy planning.
· Pursue Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with private sector developers, as this project model is well suited to benefit both the mission and local communities. Potential additional locations for PPA arrangements include towns like Bossangoa, Ndele, or Birao, which represent some of the mission’s more logistically difficult locations, and have both a reasonably-sized mission presence and local population.
· Promote electrification and renewable energy as a regular part of MINUSCA Quick Impact Project (QIP) efforts – some of which have already enabled the deployment of solar panels for street lighting or state infrastructure. Funding available for such projects (up to $50,000) could cover the cost of connecting inside-the-fence projects to local energy grids, where applicable, as a way to deliver peace dividends and provide electricity to the local population.
· MINUSCA should explore partnerships with local mediation and peacebuilding organizations to better understand and address how the energy sector impacts conflict dynamics in the CAR.
To the UN Secretary-General
The UN must significantly increase its commitment and investment in a transition to renewable energy if the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Action Plan (UNSCAP) goal of 80 percent renewable energy by 2030 is to be met.
To Member States
Increase political and financial support for a transition to renewable energy in the CAR.
To UN DOS, troop and police contributing countries, and donors
Where other renewable energy project models are not feasible, explore opportunities for triangular partnerships between troop and police contributing countries (T/PCCs) and donors to support T/PCCs with transitioning their contingent-owned equipment (COE) to renewable energy.
To the UN country team and international development partners
Prioritize the development of energy projects in marginalized areas, with the goal of addressing the dynamics underlying the conflict while also benefiting local communities.
Consider how to contribute to sustainable peace by increasing energy access, given its links with marginalization and underdevelopment.
Enhance UN country team synergies in pursuing renewable energy, e.g., by pooling resources to obtain renewable energy engineering expertise. The 2025 review of the UN country team’s Business Operations Strategy (BOS) for CAR should consider ways to develop common renewable energy resources, including potentially through power purchasing agreements that collectively benefit UN country team members. Draw on the turnkey renewable energy systems contract to help advance solar installations for shared UN premises sites.
Work with MINUSCA to build on any private sector power purchasing agreement solar project tender regarding the possibility of extending the electricity project to the local community.
To the CAR government, in coordination with international development partners
Prioritize the development of renewable energy projects in marginalized areas, with the goal of addressing the dynamics underlying the conflict while also benefitting local communities.
Invest in local energy grids that can complement planned MINUSCA PPA projects, such as those planned for Bria and Bouar. For example, establishing an electrical grid in Bria would complement the planned construction of commercial energy infrastructure under a PPA with MINUSCA. Bouar has an existing, if outdated, local electrical grid, which could also be renovated and expanded to extend local energy benefits.
Strengthen measures, including through public-private partnerships, to support investments by private actors in the energy sector, increasing competition and enhancing the provision of energy to local consumers.
Work with UN actors to identify renewable energy priorities for funding by the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) and other funding sources.