Kenyan Peacekeeper Killed in Central African Republic
A Burundian African Union peacekeeper on patrol in the Galabadja district of Bangui, Central African Republic, January 2014. (Photo: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
On Saturday, March 29, the United Nations condemned the killing of a Kenyan peacekeeper in the east of the Central African Republic. The peacekeeper, a Kenyan soldier serving with the UN stabilization force in the southeast of the country, was killed in an ambush of a patrol group. The attack comes two months after a Tunisian UN soldier was killed February 11 in a gunfight with unidentified gunmen in northern Central African Republic, and is the second killing this year of a peacekeeper in the country.
Florence Marchal, the MINUSCA spokesperson, said that the soldier was killed during a UN patrol near the village of Tabant. Marchal also said that Valentine Rugwabiza, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Central African Republic, “condemns this attack in the strongest possible terms.” The Secretary-General also said in his statement by Rugwabiza that this may constitute a war crime under international law. The country’s government spokesperson Maxime Balalu told the Associated Press that government and law enforcement authorities would be doing everything in their power to bring the attackers to justice.
The ambush is said to have been carried out by the militia A Zande Anikpigbe, and Semio official, Amadou Bi Djobdi, told the AP that “This is an act that cannot be tolerated. There is no more room for anarchy, and the bandits will have to face up to the law.” Since its deployment in 2014, MINUSCA, the peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, has lost around 150 personnel, and 17,000 soldiers and police are currently positioned in the country with the goal of helping the local army maintain order. Since 2024, the southeast Central African Republic has seen increased violence between militias representing the ethnic groups the Fulani and the Azande.
Despite its vast mineral wealth, the Central African Republic is one of the world’s poorest countries. For years rebel groups have operated often sans intervention, creating disruptions in foreign companies’ mining explorations. The country has been largely at conflict since predominantly Muslim rebels seized power in 2013 and forced out former President François Bozizé. In 2019 a peace deal was signed by fourteen armed groups in an attempt to put the conflict to rest, but since then six of the groups have left the agreement.
Flowers laid at the statue of Russian mercenaries as a tribute to the late Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in Bangui, Central African Republic, March 2024. (Photo: AP Photo/Sam Mednick)
The Central African Republic is one of the first countries to house the Russian-backed Wagner mercenary group, which has established operations in the country with the pledge of fighting rebels and restoring peace to the area. Wagner forces have been celebrated by locals and government for protecting the capital city of Bangui from rebel capture in 2021, and have since served partially as bodyguards for President Faustin Archange Touadéra. Wagner officials helped the president to win a constitutional referendum in 2023 that could indefinitely extend his power.
A Zande Anikpigbe is one of several groups who in recent years have been trained by Wagner mercenaries, under the pretense that professional training will help integrate such groups into the national army. Regional chief of the Wagner Group Dimitri Syty has blamed atrocities committed by the militia on them being “cut off from the country,” defending Wagner’s role in training them.