Death toll from Friday’s CAR clashes was six – UN

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Six people were killed last week in Central African Republic in fighting between rival armed groups, the country’s UN peacekeeping mission and the government said on Monday, revising down an earlier toll.

The violence on Friday pitted fighters from the mainly Muslim Seleka group against the Christian anti-Balaka militia in two northern towns, Ndomete and Kaga Bandoro.

The anti-Balaka formed in 2013 in response to the toppling of then-president Francois Bozize by the Seleka.

Presidential spokesman Albert Mokpeme initially put the death count at 26, but on Monday cut that figure to six, matching the UN’s toll.
“MINUSCA (the UN mission) can only confirm at this stage a total of six deaths,” its spokesman Herve Verhoosel said, adding the clashes were being investigated.

The country has been plagued since 2013 by inter-communal and inter-religious clashes, which have persisted since President Faustin-Archange Touadera was sworn in in March after an election widely portrayed as a step towards reconciliation.