Barely a week since holding a memorial ceremony for two of its peacekeepers, MINUSCA personnel gathered at the Mission’s headquarters in Bangui on 26 January 2021 to, once again, mourn the passing of two more blue helmets.

Staff Sergeant Major Franck Donald Mboundou-Moussounda of Gabon and Master Corporal Rachid Lamzaata of Morocco were killed in an attack 17 km from Bangassou (Mbomou prefecture), about 750 km east of Bangui, on 18 January 2021, when their convoy was ambushed by a coalition of armed groups.

 The fallen peacekeepers were honored in a ceremony attended the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, Denise Brown, MINUSCA Force Commander Lieutenant General Daniel Sidiki Traoré, the Chief of Staff of the Central African Army, General Zéphirin Mamadou, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the CAR, His Excellency Mostafa El Halfaoui and Mission personnel.

Staff Sergeant Major Franck Donald Mboundou-Moussounda joined MINUSCA in 2019 as a combat group leader in Gabon's 1st Light Infantry Battalion, based in Alindao. Master Corporal Rachid Lamzaata had, since September 2020, served as Chief Engineer in the Mission’s Moroccan battalion. He had also previously taken part in peacekeeping with the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).

Increased attacks on peacekeepers in the CAR

“A few days ago, we gathered to bid farewell to some fallen comrades. Today too, we mourn two of our fallen colleagues,” said the MINUSCA Force Commander while paying his last respects to the blue helmets. He decried the continued attacks on UN peacekeepers that have become all too common over recent weeks.

Nine MINUSCA peacekeepers have lost their lives in the line of duty since 25 December 2020 – a stark increase in casualty numbers for the UN Mission’s peacekeeping troops in the country over such a short period of time, when compared to previous years – and a tragic testimony to the instability and violence that have gripped parts of the country in the wake of the 27 December elections.

Such crimes will not go unpunished

“The increasing rate of unjustified deaths and murders of our men and women (...) is regrettable and must be unequivocally condemned. It is time to put an end to these atrocities committed without regard to the values and principles of the United Nations. This requires collaborative efforts both locally and internationally,” noted General Traoré.

In the same vein, the Deputy Special Representative warned: “Rest assured that the sacrifice made by the sons of Gabon and the Kingdom of Morocco will not be in vain. The perpetrators and accomplices to these assassinations of peacekeepers will be identified and prosecuted. Armed groups must know that, throughout their chain of command, they will have to answer to national and international courts for their actions”.

UN and CAR recognition

Denise Brown recalled the events of Bangassou’s more recent past while recognizing the invaluable contribution of peacekeepers such as Staff Sergeant Major Mboundou-Moussounda and Master Corporal Lamzaata to peace and stability in the CAR. “Bangassou suffered a deadly attack in 2017 that claimed the lives of innocent civilians and the peacekeepers sent to protect them. Over time and thanks to the deployment of the local government, the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) and the Internal Security Forces and through dialogue, we have seen the community slowly rebuild and reconnect; it is this progress that the armed groups tried to break but thanks to the work of our peacekeepers and the FACA, they have lost this  fight,” she said.

The peacekeepers, both 31 years of age, were posthumously awarded one of the highest CAR military honours for their service to the country.