At least 15 civilians have been killed in the latest attacks by armed groups in the volatile Central African Republic, the UN mission MINUSCA said Monday, adding others were mutilated and some 1,500 forced from their homes.
MINUSCA said the attacks on December 6 and 7 in the central east of the country left at least 15 dead at Boyo, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of the capital Bangui.
The organization added it had evidence of “cases of amputation, extortion and destruction of homes and the displacement of close on 1,500 people” and pointed the finger of blame at the mainly Christian and animist anti-balaka militia.
MINUSCA added it “strongly condemns the recent violence deliberately targeting civilian populations.”
One of the poorest countries in the world, the CAR spiraled into conflict in 2013 when then-president Francois Bozize was ousted by a rebel coalition called the Seleka, drawn largely from the Muslim minority.
The coup triggered a sectarian bloodbath between the Seleka and “anti-Balaka” forces.
In December last year, rebels launched a new offensive against President Faustin-Archange Touadera‘s regime on the eve of presidential elections.
Touadera won re-election and his army has now reconquered the lost territory — the United Nations and France say with key support from Russia’s Wagner private security group — as well as crack Rwandan troops.
Moscow denies the allegations.
Touadera on October 15 decreed a unilateral ceasefire with a view to opening a dialogue with armed groups. The main groups responded by announcing they would abide by the truce.
But on November 28, some 30 civilians and two soldiers were killed in an attack in the northwest which authorities blamed on the 3R (Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation) group mainly made up of the Fulani ethnic group who are traditionally nomadic herders.