Bangui (Central African Republic) – Three Senegalese crew were killed and afourth was injured when a combat helicopter used by United Nationspeacekeepers in the Central African Republic crashed in the west of thecountry, the UN force said on Friday.
“It is with immense sorrow that I have learned of the crash of a Senegalesecombat helicopter as it was landing at Bouar, leading to three deaths andone injured,” the head of the MINUSCA mission, Mankeur Ndiaye, said onTwitter.
The crash of the Russian-made helicopter was confirmed by the Senegalesearmy in a statement.
It was “returning from an operational mission” for MINUSCA when theaccident occurred, it said.
On Thursday, MINUSCA carried out an attack on an armed group called 3R atKoui, in the northwest of the country, several officials in UN force toldAFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Separately, the rebel group said late Thursday that its bases had beenbombarded by UN forces.
The 3R had been challenged by MINUSCA the day before to hand over thoseresponsible for the killing of 46 civilians in the Paoua region in northernCAR in May.
Only three individuals have so far been turned over to the authorities.
One of the world’s poorest and most unstable nations, CAR has sufferedseveral violent crises since 2003 when former president Francois Bozizeseized power in a coup.
The country spiralled into bloodshed after Bozize was overthrown in 2013 bythe Seleka alliance.
Since then, fighting has forced nearly a quarter of the country’s 4.5million people to flee their homes and rival militia groups control most ofthe country.
In February, the government and 14 armed groups signed the eighth in astring of peace deals.
Under it, rebel chiefs were given government positions, and aconfidence-building process was to begin whereby army troops and militiamenwould carry out joint patrols.
But the accord has remained extremely fragile and breaches of it by therebels occur almost daily.
The 3R was one of the signatories. Its leader, Sidiki Abass, also known asSidi Bi Soulemane, had been appointed military advisor to the governmentunder the pact, but stepped down on September 4.
The 3R — from the French words for Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation –emerged in late 2015 purportedly to defend the Muslim Fulani, or Peul,people from Christian anti-Balaka militias.
In 2016, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report that implicated the 3R inthe deaths of scores of people as well as rape and wide-scale civiliandisplacement.
One of the UN’s biggest peacekeeping missions, MINUSCA has nearly 13,000troops and police in the CAR in support of the elected president,Faustin-Archange Touadera. -APP/AFP