UN peacekeepers reach site of Africa massacre

UN peacekeepers on Friday said they had reached the scene of a December 21 massacre of 23 civilians in northwestern Central African Republic with a view to restoring order.

The village of Nzakoundou was targeted by armed elements of the 3R rebel group on December 21 in an attack that killed 23 civilians, the UN said in a press statement, adding the village was set ablaze.

Vladimir Monteiro, spokesperson for the UN's MINUSCA mission in the Central African Republic, also told AFP around 3,500 villagers had fled into the bush.

The UN had said Wednesday it would deploy peacekeepers to the area to beef up security and "facilitate" the distribution of humanitarian aid and they arrived there on Thursday.

The total number of despatched troops comprising Cameroonian, Nepalese and Senegalese soldiers was not clear. They are due to be joined later by troops from other nationalities.

Civil war has plagued the CAR, one of the world's poorest countries, since a Muslim-dominated armed coalition called the Seleka ousted former president Francois Bozize in 2013.

Bozize raised his own predominantly Christian and animist militias, known as the anti-Balaka, to regain power.

Civilians are often victims of the conflict, with the United Nations accusing all sides of perpetrating war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The 3R is one of the most powerful of the armed groups and criminal gangs produced by the conflict, although fighting has become less intense in recent years.

President Faustin-Archange Touadera repelled a siege of the capital Bangui by a rebel coalition in late 2020 with the help of Russian paramilitaries, but some remote areas of the country remain outside government control.

After looking to the likes of Russian group Wagner, Bangui has more recently sought to diversify its strategic partnerships and is now said to be in talks with US private military company Bancroft.