UN Bemoans Treatment of Peacekeepers in CAR

The United Nations mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) has said the country’s presidential guard opened fire on unarmed Egyptian peacekeepers and wounded 10 of them – an allegation rejected by the government. The “deliberate and unspeakable attack” took place on Monday, the MINUSCA mission said in a statement, adding that the Egyptian police contingent was travelling in a bus marked “UN”. MINUSCA said the Egyptian peacekeepers had just arrived at the airport of the capital, Bangui, when they “suffered heavy fire from the presidential guards without any prior warning or response, even though they were unarmed”. The peacekeepers caught up in the shooting were in one of a four-bus convoy that took the wrong road on its way towards the UN base and ended in an area close to the presidential residency, Vladimir Monteiro, a spokesperson for the UN mission, told Al Jazeera. As the presidential guards opened fire and the driver tried to escape, Monteiro explained, the bus struck and killed a woman.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA