As the rest of the world, MINURCAT also celebrated World AIDS Day last week. The ceremony to launch the activities of the day took place in Abeche, the capital of eastern Chad, on 3 December 2009.
MINURCAT completed its mandate on 31 December 2010, in accordance with Security Council resolution 1923 (2010) and at the request of the Chadian Government, which had pledged full responsibility for protecting civilians on its territory. Following its withdrawal, the UN country team and the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA) remained in the country to continue to work for the benefit of the Chadian people.
Reporting to the Security Council in December, the Secretary-General said “MINURCAT has been an unusual and unique United Nations peacekeeping operation in that it was devoted solely to contributing to the protection of civilians, without an explicit political mandate. It has gone through the stages of planning, deployment and withdrawal in the short span of less than four years, enduring adversities in each.”
For more on the implementation of the MINURCAT’s mandate, achievements and the lessons learned, please see the Secretary-General’s final report S/2010/611 of 1 December 2010.