"The combat yesterday (Wednesday) morning was a consequence of an attack on the town by the Gula faction of the FPRC," the UN official said. The FPRC last year split into two factions: the Runga ethnic group on one side, including FPRC's military chief Abdoulaye Hissene, and rival fighters from the Gula and Kara ethnic communities.
Fighting had subsided by Thursday and UN peacekeepers had intensified their patrols in the area. The United Nations said on Saturday that one local Central African MINUSCA employee was shot and killed in Ndele. Its police unit was investigating the murder. There have been clashes between Runga and Gula in Ndele, which is under FPRC control, since the start of March.
Around 50 people were killed after fighting erupted between the two factions in the diamond-rich town of Bria in January. More than two-thirds of CAR remains in the hands of armed groups, which typically claim ethnic or religious affiliations and often fight over mineral resources.
One of the world's poorest and most unstable nations, the former French colony has suffered several crises since 2003 when former president Francois Bozize seized power in a coup. The country spiralled into bloodshed after Bozize was overthrown in 2013 by the mainly Muslim rebel Seleka alliance. Since then, fighting has forced nearly a quarter of the country's 4.5 million people to flee their homes.
In February 2019, the government and 14 armed groups signed the eighth in a string of peace deals. Under it, rebel chiefs were given government positions, and army troops and militiamen were meant to carry out joint patrols.