Rebels abduct 2 policemen in Central African Republic

YAOUNDE, Cameroon

A notorious rebel group has abducted two police officers in the Central African Republic, local media reported.

The abduction occurred in the wee hours of Monday at the Ngaoundaye police station in the town of Bang, northwestern part of the country that is close to Chad-Cameroon border.

Local authorities said they do not know the reasons for kidnapping.

However, according to a local security source, the 3R (Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation) would have acted in retaliation to the arrest of three members of the group during a counter operation carried out jointly by the country’s army and the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), said news website Corbeaunews-Centrafrique.

In July, the UN mission said an attack that killed a Rwandan UN peacekeeper was carried out by the 3R insurgent group.

In February 2019, the CAR’s government signed an agreement with several armed groups that control large swathes of the country, committing to integrating some groups’ fighters into new army units and their leaders into the government.

The deal has galvanized international support, but violence continues in the provinces.

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