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Armed groups and conflict minerals in the Central African Republic. By Thomas SAINT-CRICQ (AFP)
United Nations forces clashed with a local militia in the west of the Central African Republic (CAR) just over two months after an agreement to restore peace in that troubled country, the UN spokesman said. ;UN.
Five members of the Democratic Front of the Central African People (FDPC) were killed after the UN peacekeeping force MINUSCA on Friday launched an operation against the group, according to an internal memo seen by AFP.
The FDPC said it lost three of its members.
MINUSCA "has begun talks (with the FDPC), which are continuing," said spokesman Vladimir Monteiro on Tuesday.
A UN peacekeeper was wounded in the fighting but left the hospital on Tuesday, Monteiro said.
The UN accused the FDPC of establishing roadblocks in Zoukombo on Route 1, the only road linking the capital Bangui to Cameroon, and to have stolen about a dozen vans.
The FDPC is one of 14 armed groups that signed an agreement with the government on February 6 – the eighth attempt at peace in one of Africa's most troubled and poorest countries.
The CAR is struggling to recover from the bloodshed that erupted when former President François Bozizé, a Christian, was overthrown in 2013 by predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels.
Armed groups, who generally claim to defend an ethnic or religious group, control about 80 percent of the Central African Republic, often fighting for access to the country's mineral wealth.
Thousands of people have lost their lives, nearly 650,000 have fled their homes and another 575,000 have left the country, according to UN figures released last December.
Under the peace agreement, armed groups were offered seats in an "inclusive" government – a process that proved long and hectic, with militia leaders demanding high-level positions.
The new government took office on March 22, but without the FDPC leader, Abdoulaye Miskine, who refused the ministerial post he had been offered.
However, one of his aides was appointed "special advisor" to the prime minister, and another was appointed prefect of the Nana-Mambere region, in the west of the country.
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