UN employee kidnapped in Central African Republic
January 20, 2015
The United Nations mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, released a statement on Tuesday, in which it said that the woman had been seized while she was on her way to work.
"Unidentified armed men kidnapped on Tuesday a woman who works for MINUSCA after having stopped the vehicle in which she was travelling. A similar kidnap attempt failed just a bit earlier," the MINUSCA statement said.
While its wasn't immediately clear who was behind the kidnapping, it came a day after a French charity worker and a local man were seized in a part of Bangui controlled by an militia.
The AFP news agency also cited an unnamed source, who identified the kidnappers as "anti-balaka" fighters and said they she was traveling in a UN minivan, when she was taken.
2013 coup
The mainly Christian anti-balaka militias formed after a coalition of mostly Muslim Seleka rebels launched a coup almost two years ago, ousting President Francois Bozize and installing the country's first Muslim president, Michel Djotodia. Thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in the ensuing violence between anti-balaka and Seleka fighters.
Both sides have been accused of serious atrocities. Anti-balaka means "anti-machete" in the local Sango language, and refers to the Seleka fighters' favored weapon, although their mainly Christian rivals are also known to use them.
pfd/rc (AFP, Reuters)