The United Nations Security Council has condemned “in the strongest terms” Tuesday’s killing of two Moroccan U.N. peacekeepers in the Central African Republic.
The peacekeepers were accompanying fuel trucks about 60 kilometers west of the town of Obo when they were attacked by unknown assailants who fled into the bush.
In a statement released Wednesday, the council said “attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute a war crime” and stressed that “those responsible for the attack shall be held accountable.”
The Central African Republic has been mired in chaos since 2013 when primarily Muslim rebels took control of the majority Christian nation and ousted then-President Francois Bozize.
In December of that year, the U.N. dispatched about 13,000 peacekeepers to the country with the primary responsibility of protecting the population.
President of the Central African Republic Faustin Archange Touadera (left) and Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara at the presidential palace during Touadera's visit in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Nov. 7, 2016.
U.N. sanctions monitors said last month that violence was spreading even though successful democratic elections were held last February. Many isolated regions of the country effectively remain outside the government’s control.
The Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, has been active for several years in the area around Obo, in the southeastern part of the country.
Human Rights Watch said a new, armed group has killed at least 50 civilians as it attempts to gain control over parts of C.A.R.’s northwestern region.