In January 2019, a series of clashes occurred in the town of

Bambari Bambari is a town in the Central African Republic, lying on the Ouaka River. It has a population of 41,356 (2003 census) and is the capital of Ouaka prefecture. Bambari is an important market town and is home to Bambari Airport, and the R ...

in the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

between

Union for Peace in the Central African Republic Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC, french: Unité pour la paix en Centrafrique) is a rebel group in the Central African Republic which controls southern parts of the country. History UPC was formed on 17 September 2014 by Al ...

(UPC) rebels against government and

United Nations Peacekeeping Peacekeeping by the United Nations is a role held by the Department of Peace Operations as an "instrument developed by the organization as a way to help countries torn by conflict to create the conditions for lasting peace". It is distinguished ...

forces. The clashes cumulated in Operation BEKPA 2, when

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

forces, including

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...

special operations forces and

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

ese Peacekeepers launched an offensive operation to secure the town.

History

On January 10, 2019, UPC rebels using "heavy weaponry" launched an attack on the town of

in an attempt to seize resources and to extort the local population by collecting their taxes. After the killing of two police officers and the injuring of a third,

Portuguese Paratroopers The Portuguese Paratroopers ( pt, Tropas Paraquedistas) are an elite infantry assault force, representing the bulk of the airborne forces of Portugal. They were created in 1956 as part of the Portuguese Air Force, being transferred to the Port ...

deployed to the town and engaged the enemy in order to protect civilians and to restore order, the clash lasted five hours and was fought alongside Central African Forces and reportedly Russian mercenaries. During the fighting, 30 people had to be treated for gunshot wounds with one person dying in hospital. Corbeau News reported the deaths of about 10 people including the two police officers in the town. The CAR Government stated on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that 20 militants had been killed and 15 were wounded, the leader of the rebels, General Bellow was wounded during the fighting according to an internal U.N. report. On 11 January, two French Mirage 2000 fighter jets stationed in neighboring

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

conducted close air support along with two "show of force" demonstrations over Bambari in a mission that lasted four hours and required refueling from a

C-135 The Boeing C-135 Stratolifter is a Cargo aircraft, transport aircraft derived from the prototype Boeing 367-80 jet airliner (also the basis for the Boeing 707, 707) in the early 1950s. It has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. Boe ...

Tanker. After days of relative calm,

ese, and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

forces launched an attack during Operation BEKPA 2 on January 17. The fighting began at 8:00 am and lasted eight hours. UPC fighters put up resistance using heavy weapons, rocket launchers and grenades. An ammunition dump was destroyed and weapons including locally made ones and uniforms were captured, three suspected UPC rebels were detained and handed to local authorities after the operation.

MINUSCA United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (also called MINUSCA, which is an initialism of its French name Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations unies pour la stabilisation en C ...

spokesmen Vladimir Monteiro told the Defense Times that Peacekeeping forces "engaged UPC elements in two Bambari Neighborhoods". On January 19, UPC forces killed an aid worker and a teacher, Portuguese and Nepalese peacekeepers responded and clashes continued, fire was directed towards the neighborhoods of Bornou and Livestock a local resident said.

References

{{reflist, 2 Central African Republic Civil War January 2019 events in Africa Battles involving Portugal Ouaka 2019 in the Central African Republic Conflicts in 2019