The United Nations expressed the concern after the situation in the Central African Republic’s capital got worsen. The UN forces and government announced ban guns from a flashpoint PK5 district in Bangui where new clashes took dozens of lives, Al Jazeera reported.
Most CAR lies in the hands of armed rebel groups, who often fight over the country’s mineral resources. The PK5 district, where many Muslim traders took refuge in 2013, is a trigger point. Fierce fighting then erupted between predominantly Christian and Muslim militia, prompting the intervention of former colonial power France, under a UN mandate.
The mainly-Muslim PK5 district in Bangui is a notorious trigger for violence in the CAR. That is why the UN mission is controlling the situation over the years.
“Any armed person will be disarmed or neutralised,” Bili Aminou Alao, spokesperson for the UN force MINUSCA, told AFP.
On December 26, fighting erupted between local militiamen and traders angered by extortion. According to the humanitarian organizations working in Bangui, more than 30 people have been killed. During the clashes, several dozen stores have been burned as well.
The CAR government will deploy patrols by the Domestic Security Forces. In addition to these policemen and gendarmes, a police commissioner will be sent to PK5, the MINUSCA spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.
“We are waiting for their members to come along with their weapons and lay them down,” the UN mission in CAR added.
In April 2018, MINUSCA launched a crackdown on militia there in response to appeals by local traders. The bloody operation’s death toll raised to 30 deaths, sparking anger among local people.
A fragile calm returned to the streets of PK5 on Tuesday and the markets reopened, despite the destruction, several traders said.
Meanwhile, a governmental DDR programme (disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration) is being funded to the tune of $30 million by the World Bank. The DDR aimed to encourage 9,000 militiamen to return to civilian life in the Central African Republic.
