Cambodia to stay in CAR following peacekeeper deaths

By Lauren Crothers

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

Cambodian troops will complete their peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) despite the killing of four soldiers, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

Late Tuesday the UN mission confirmed the deaths of three more Cambodian soldiers after earlier saying a soldier from the country had died in an ambush.

“We will still stay,” Defense Ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat told Anadolu Agency. “We have a commitment to stay to fulfil our mission. We are not scared of anything.”

The military engineers were in CAR to clear landmines and help with road construction.

“We are not fighters,” Socheat said. “We are a peacekeeping force, so we just request to the UN to support our security, otherwise we cannot do anything over there. It’s for a humanitarian mission.”

The engineers were travelling with Moroccan troops on Monday to repair a road when they were attacked near Bangassou, about 470 kilometers (290 miles) east of capital Bangui.

“When we arrived near our camp at night time, [the attackers] opened fire on us,” Socheat said.

Soldier missing

A Moroccan soldier is still missing and eight peacekeepers were injured in the attack.

Cambodia contributes more than 800 troops to the UN mission in CAR, which consists of nearly 13,000 military and police personnel.

After decades of instability and fighting, violence broke out afresh in December 2012 when Seleka rebels launched a series of attacks, seizing Bangui the following March. The conflict has since descended into a sectarian struggle between the mostly Christian anti-Balaka movement and the mainly Muslim Seleka.

Thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions are on the brink of starvation, with more than half the population needing humanitarian aid.

In a statement, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres offered his condolences to the bereaved families.

He said attacks against UN peacekeepers “may constitute a war crime” and called for the CAR authorities “to investigate the attack in order to swiftly bring those responsible to justice.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen said the bodies of the latest Cambodian soldiers had been discovered around 2 km (1 mile) from the scene of the attack, the Cambodia Daily newspaper reported.

“The bodies were found about 2 km from the first fighting area so our brothers would have been caught and later killed,” he said.

Sen said Cambodia would send investigators to CAR. “We do not surrender to terrorism and any kind of violence,” he said.