CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC-The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in Nigeria, Nurudeen Mohammed, has pledged, on behalf of the country, $1.5 million (N243 million) at the International Donor Summit of the African Union in support of the African-Led International Mission, MISCA in Central African Republic.

Mohammed described the situation in CAR as that which requires collective assistance so as to save the country from damnation.

“The situation in CAR demands our collective resolve to help that sister country to win the peace and embark on national reconciliation and re-establish critical government infrastructure,” he said.

Mohammed appealed to the warring parties in the country to bury their hatches and rebuild confidence in one another by living together in the interest of peace, stability and national development, adding that they should support the newly installed Interim President, Catherine Samba-Panza.

He also expressed Nigeria’s readiness to offer technical assistance to CAR with a view to post-conflict reconstruction and development.

In the same vein, the European Union African Director, Nicholas Westcott, said the bloc was conscious of the urgent need to provide political and financial support to the new transitional government in Bangui.

Westcott then announced its pledge of $61 million (N9.92 billion) on behalf of the union.

In his words at the event, the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson said, “We have a collective responsibility towards the people of the Central African Republic to respond rapidly and robustly and now to prevent further atrocities.”

He appealed to the international community to urgently provide MISCA with the support required.

According to the UN, an estimated one million of the country’s 4.6 million citizens have been displaced during months of religious violence.