The UN mission in Central African Republic blames deadly attack on the 3R armed group and its leader Abass Sidiki.

A United Nations peacekeeper from Rwanda was killed and two others wounded in an ambush on a convoy in northwest Central African Republic (CAR).

The attack on Monday, in the Nana-Mambere prefecture, was allegedly carried out by the Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation (3R) armed group, said a UN statement on Tuesday condemning the assault.

“This criminal attack constitutes a new violation of the peace agreement by the 3R & its leader Abass Sidiki,” MINUSCA, the UN mission in the country, said on Twitter.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, head of the UN peacekeeping force, called the ambush a “cowardly attack”, adding “this crime must not go unpunished”.

CAR has been rocked by violence since 2013 when mainly Muslim Seleka rebels deposed then-President Francois Bozize, prompting reprisals from mostly Christian militias. UN peacekeepers were deployed in 2014.

The 3R armed group was created in 2015 to protect the Fulani community, a minority in the region, against attacks by Anti-Balaka fighters, one of the two main armed groups in CAR.

Violence waned after a peace accord was signed in February 2019 between the government and 14 armed groups, including the 3R, following talks in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.

But like previous agreements, this one has shown signs of falling apart.

Conflict in CAR has uprooted more than one million people, the United Nations has said.

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