Central African Republic: several civilians killed in the attack on a village by rebels

Published on: 05/14/2022 – 20:49 Ten civilians were killed on Monday in the attack on a village located 400 km northeast of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, announced the Mission of United Nations in the Central African Republic (Minusca), which accuses the Unit for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), a major rebel group. Ten civilians were killed Monday, May 9 in an attack by rebels in the center of the Central African Republic, plagued by a civil war for several years, declared Saturday May 14, to AFP the spokesman of the force of the Central African Republic. UN in the country.” Armed elements of the Unite for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), a major rebel group, “perpetrated abuses on the population, killing ten people” Monday in the village of Bokolobo, more 400 km northeast of the capital Bangui, assured Lieutenant Colonel Abdoul Aziz Ouedraogo, spokesman for the force of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Central African Republic (Minusca). They had previously attacked the positions of the security forces, he added, without giving more details. “In response to these atrocities, the Force immediately deployed Mauritanian blue helmets to protect the populations”, continued Abdoul Aziz Ouedraogo, who specified that a second patrol of the Nepalese contingent had been dispatched on the spot and that the installation of a base on the spot made it possible to “ensure the protection of the civilian populations”. Patriots for Change (CPC) – an alliance of rebel groups created in December 2020 to overthrow President Faustin Archange Touadéra, denounced the massacre on Monday in the same village of “30 civilians of the Muslim faith, including 27 Fulani (…) by Wagner mercenaries, the FACA and the Touadera wing anti-balaka militia”. The Central African Republic, the second least developed country in the world according to the UN, has been the scene of a civil war since 2013, very deadly in its first years but which has decreased in intensity since 2018. At the end of 2020, the most powerful of the many armed groups which then shared two-thirds of the territory had launched an offensive on Bangui shortly before the elections and Faustin Archange Touadéra had called on Moscow to the rescue of its destitute army. Hundreds of Russian paramilitaries had then joined a few hundreds already present since 2018 and made it possible, in a few months, to repel the rebels’ offensive and then to drive them back from a large part of the territories and towns they controlled. But without being able to reinstall everywhere and permanently the presence and authority of the State. On March 30, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet denounced “serious violations of human rights “man” in the Central African Republic, including “murders and sexual violence” on civilians, committed by rebel groups but also the regime’s armed forces and their Russian allies. With AFP