(Bangui) In the Central African Republic (C.A.R) clashes have taken place between Islamic
rebels groups and the UN resulting in 17 rebels, and 1 UN soldier killed and over 100 injured.
The U.N. said a Rwandan peacekeeper was killed and eight others were wounded Tuesday during “an exchange of fire with armed elements” for several hours in the capital, Bangui. In protest the corpses of 17 people were laid out in front of the United Nations peacekeeping offices in the Central African Republic’s capital Wednesday in anger over operations against armed groups that has targeted a largely Muslim neighbourhood. In response the UN Spokesperson Vladimir Monteiro said Minusca troops targeted criminal gangs, denying they had fired on civilians.
“This is not an operation against communities and specifically the Muslim community. The Muslim community asked our troops to launch the operation and put an end to the criminal activities,”C.A.R has been the scene of major unrest after Islamic rebels took control of the mainly Christian country in 2013 resulting in an uprising by the Christians who took out their anger on the minority Islamic population, The UN intervened but despite the presence of over 11,000 UN troops in the country they have been powerless to disarm the Muslim rebels who continue to do their thing and complain when the UN takes action
