UN MISSION
CONDEMNS DEADLY ATTACK ON PEACEKEEPERS IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
09th May 2017 – The
United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) has
strongly condemned yesterday’s attack on one of its convoys in the country’s
south that killed one Cambodian peacekeeper.
“MINUSCA vigorously denounces
this odious attack on peacekeepers whose presence on Central African soil has
no other objective than to help the country to protect its population and to
allow the Central African Republic to emerge from the cycle of violence caused
by armed groups,” said a press release, referring to the UN Multidimensional
Integrated Stabilization Mission in CAR by its French acronym.
Eight peacekeepers were also
injured, including one Cambodian and seven Moroccan, near Bangassou, about 474
km east of the nation’s capital, Bangui, with four peacekeepers missing in
action, according to MINUSCA.
The Mission said it has sent a
helicopter and peacekeepers to secure the site and search for those missing in
action. A medevac plane evacuated the injured peacekeepers, who have arrived in
Bangui and are receiving medical care.
The Mission said it will do
everything possible to ensure that the perpetrators of the attack –who fled
into the bush – are arrested so that they can be brought to justice.
MINUSCA recalled that “harming
the life of a peacekeeper can be considered a war crime and subject to
prosecution.”
The Secretary-General’s Special
Representative and head of MINUSCA, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, extended
condolences to the family of the victim, his contingent and his country, while
expressing his gratitude for the work and sacrifices of the peacekeepers in
protecting the population in the country.
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