Rebels kill police officer in Central Africa Republic

An attack by rebels killed a police officer in southern Central African Republic, a region plagued by fighting between armed groups and the army, the government said Saturday.

The rebels struck the town of Kouango, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, on Thursday and “looted several households” as well as killing the on-duty officer, the government said on its Facebook page.

The Central African Republic, the second least developed country in the world according to UN rankings, was plunged into a bloody civil war after a coup in 2013. 

The conflict has calmed over the past three years, although large swathes of territory remain outside central government control.

President Faustin-Archange Touadera issued a unilateral ceasefire declaration in October, saying all but two of the main armed rebel groups had agreed to put down their weapons.

The prime minister blamed the latest attack on one of the groups that did not sign the ceasefire, the Union for Peace in Central Africa (UPC), which is active in the east.

The country’s armed forces have been deployed in the region, alongside Russian paramilitaries and Rwandan soldiers which have assisted the military since rebels tried to march on the capital Bangui last year.

“The sweep will continue to eliminate the danger from the elements of the UPC which still violate the ceasefire decreed by the president,” the premier’s office said in a statement.

Thirty civilians and two soldiers were killed last week in attacks carried out by another rebel group, the 3R (Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation), in the country’s northwest.