Rebels killed six civilians and injured several others on Saturday in an attack on a village in the northeastern part of the volatile Central African Republic, according to the UN peacekeeping mission.
“This morning at dawn, elements from 3R (Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation) launched a large-scale attack on C. African army positions in the village of Mann,” said the spokesman for the UN’s 12,000 strong MINUSCA mission.
“Six civilians were killed and several were injured,” he added.
The village is about 550 kilometers (340 miles) from the capital Bangui, Lieutenant Colonel Abdoulaziz Fall told AFP.
“The situation is under control and patrols are ongoing,” he said.
3R, a rebel group consisting of members of the funal ethnic group, is one of several such clothes that are flourishing in the country by force.
CAR is the second least developed country in the world according to the UN and still suffers from the aftermath of a brutal civil conflict that erupted in 2013.
It has been crushed by coups and decades of wrongdoing by dictators since its independence from France in 1960.
President Faustin Archange Touadera was re-elected in December with a turnout of fewer than one in three voters.
Voting was hampered by armed groups — including 3R — which at the time controlled about two-thirds of the country and rebels launched an offensive in the run-up to election day.
Since then, the army, with the support of UN peacekeepers, Rwandan special forces and Russian paramilitaries, has seceded much of the territory from rebel control.
The UN Security Council extends the arms embargo
On Thursday, the UN Security Council extended an arms embargo on the country for 12 months as members expressed alarm over the “deteriorating” situation.
The extension – which aims to prevent armed groups from acquiring weapons – is largely the same as the previous embargo but includes an exemption for mortar.
Russian “instructors” have been helping CAR’s poorly equipped national army since 2018, when Moscow first acknowledged sending staff to train its besieged forces.
The Russian paramilitaries supplied small arms and received exemptions from the arms embargo and are credited with helping to strengthen CAR’s army.
Last month, UN experts accused Russian instructors of carrying out “indiscriminate killings” and looting.
Moscow insists the staff is unarmed and not involved in hostilities.
Russia has acknowledged the deployment of about 500 instructors, but UN experts estimate it could be up to 2,000.
(AFP)
.
