MINUSCA strongly condemns the attack on Monday in Bangui against a UPC delegation (Union pour la paix en Centrafrique, ex-Seleka) who reportedly traveled from Bambari (center) to participate in the consultations with the Forces Vives in the Central Africa's capital. 

The delegation was attacked by unknown elements in Combattant Market, Eighth district of Bangui. One representative was seriously wounded and taken to the MINUSCA Level II Hospital in Bangui on humanitarian basis for emergency treatment. The whereabouts of at least three delegates are currently being investigated.

MINUSCA calls on the actors behind this violent attack to release any hostages they might be illegally detaining. The Mission also exhorts all actors to calm and restraint and to resolve their differences through dialogue.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of MINUSCA, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, calls on all armed groups to abide by the Brazzaville Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed on July 2014 as well as the DDRR agreement, signed in Bangui in May 2015. “Violence will never be a solution; dialogue and reconciliation are the only way for the Central African Republic to overcome this crisis,” Mr. Onanga-Anyanga stated.

MINUSCA encourages the Government to investigate Monday’s attack with a view to identifying the perpetrators and bringing them to justice and expresses its readiness to assist the authorities in the process.  

Monday’s attack comes at a moment when the Head of State of the Transition, the national authorities, and the international community have been steadfastly engaged in consensus-building dialogue around the establishment of an electoral calendar for the upcoming general elections which remains the only viable option for peaceful exit to the current crisis.  MINUSCA denounces this direct attempt to use violence to disrupt, once again, the positive developments underway.