A ‘blue helmet’ dies in an armed attack in the Central African Republic

MINUSCA forces kill three gunmen and capture a fourth

July 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –

At least one ‘blue helmet’ has died this Monday in an armed attack perpetrated by armed men against a convoy of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), in the northeast of the country.

As indicated by MINUSCA in a statement, the deceased was of Rwandan origin and the attack took place during a patrol near the city of Sam Ouandja, in the Haute-Kotto prefecture, where the mission recently reinforced its presence due to another attack. against the peacekeepers over the past week.

In the attack, the military forces have killed three armed men and have captured a fourth, while the head of the mission, Valentine Rugwabiza, has underlined the “firm and immediate response of the Rwandan contingent patrol to this attack, which has made it possible to repel armed elements and protect the population of Sam Ouandja”.

Rugwabiza has “strongly condemned this outrageous attack against the ‘blue helmets'” and has reaffirmed the commitment to “maintain its firm position in the execution of its mandate to protect the civilian population, in support of the Central African authorities”.

For his part, the spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric, who has joined the condemnation and has conveyed his condolences to the loved ones of the deceased, regretted that this event “occurs after the rapid deployment of forces ( …) in response to an attack on the city by an armed group that fled after an intervention by the forces”.

The UN Assistant Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Lacroix, has denounced the “despicable attack on a MINUSCA patrol designed to protect civilians and humanitarian workers in the Central African Republic”, while the mission has asked the authorities to spare no effort to identify those responsible for the attack against the peacekeeping forces, remembering that this type of attack on life can be considered a war crime and subject to prosecution by the courts.