PH
A rebel leader has been ordered to leave and the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission (MINUSCA) in the Central African Republic (CAR) has beefed-up its police presence in the town of Bambari, situated on the Ouaka river, following an attack on the peacekeepers which wounded four, one critically.
UN News reported on Wednesday night that the peacekeepers were ambushed on Tuesday in the Ippy Ouaka prefecture of the CAR during an exchange of fire with the FPRC’s (Front Populaire pour la Renaissance de Centrafrique).
The attackers fled the scene after the incident. Clashes between the mainly Muslim Séléka rebel coalition and anti-Balaka militia, which are mostly Christian, plunged the country of 4.5 million people into civil conflict in 2013.
In a news release issued earlier this month, MINUSCA stressed that two factions of the ex-Séléka armed group, namely the FPRC coalition and UPC Mouvement pour l’Unité et la Paix en Centrafrique, represented a threat to civilian populations and that UN peacekeepers would respond in case of violence.
Peacekeepers prevented a hostile crowd – including members of the FPRC – from entering a camp for internally displaced persons in Ippy, which is some 70 miles from the city of Bambari, earlier on Tuesday.
Some people in the crowd fired at peacekeepers, who returned fire, killing two FPRC members.
MINUSCA reiterated its resolve to use force to protect civilians in accordance with its mandate and called on all armed groups to immediately cease hostilities and to resolve any dispute through dialogue within the framework of the African Initiative for Peace and Reconciliation, the office added.
Meanwhile, UPC leader, Ali Darassa, left Bambari following the Mission’s calls for him to leave the town, the office said.
