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2 World Food Programme Staff Killed In Rebel Ambush In Central Africa Republic

A series of bandit attacks have targeted World Food Programme vehicles in the Central African Republic, resulting in death.

A United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) driver and his assistant have been killed in an ambush in the southeast of the Central African Republic.

According to security sources, the two staff of the WFP were on a food delivery mission on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 along the Mboki-Obo highway in the Haut-Mbomou district when their vehicle fell in an ambush by Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC) rebels.

The convoy had left Mboki eight hours earlier when eight heavily-armed men blocked their road, firing gunshots at random to force the convoy to stop.

But before the driver could stop, he and his assistant had been mortally wounded by the gunfire, a WFP source said.


The source told HumAngle that the death of their two staff would be a serious setback to all those who hoped for peace and prosperity in the Central African Republic.

“This is a concrete case of insecurity which has been rendering stability in the southeast region fragile,” the WFP official who opted for anonymity because she is not authorised to talk on behalf of the UN agency declared.

Forty-eight hours after the Mboki incident, a vehicle carrying merchandise from Zemio was on Friday, May 21, 2021 attacked by the same armed group. 

A passenger was wounded in the leg while the rebels carted away all the contents of the truck.

“It is very disheartening that in spite of the fact that the government of President Faustin Archange Touadera has brought in Russians, Rwandans, Syrians and other mercenaries ostensibly to help him bring peace and prosperity to the country, the Central African Republic is plunging deeper and deeper into chaos,” a society society activist who gave his name as Andre Panza to HumAngle.

“In fact, the rate of insecurity in the country now is more than what obtained before Touadera brought in all these mercenaries who are more interested in looting the natural resources of the country than helping us regain security and prosperity.”

The United Nations Security Index classifies the Central African Republic security situation as “preoccupying.”


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Chief Bisong Etahoben

Chief Bisong Etahoben is a Cameroonian investigative journalist and traditional ruler. He writes for international media and has participated in several transnational investigations. Etahoben won the first-ever Cameroon Investigative Journalist Award in 1992. He serves as a member of a number of international investigative journalism professional bodies including the Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR). He is HumAngle's Francophone and Central Africa editor.

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