A traffic accident involving a United Nation's peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic (CAR) vehicle and a motorcycle taxi on Tuesday August 10, 2021 in the town of Bria, capital of the Haute-Kotto Prefecture, in the north-central part of the Central African Republic has sparked wild protest as people took to the streets to register their displeasure with what they term the hostile and nonchalant attitude of the UN peace keepers.
Witnesses said the accident happened at around 2 p.m. between a United Nations truck and a motorcycle with a passenger. According to the witnesses, it was the truck that violently struck the motorcycle. During the collision, the driver of the motorcycle died on the spot while the passenger had his hand seriously injured.
The accident has provoked a strong reaction among the local population. The Central African population was outraged by the negligence of MINUSCA employees causing many Central Africans to take to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the mission and demand that the UN Mission withdraw its personnel from Central African immediately. The local folks said the road accident this week was one too many as they have lost so many of their relations to the reckless driving of the UN Mission personnel.
For example, on July 3, 2021, a fatal accident involving a MINUSCA truck took place in the capital Bangui. According to witnesses, the driver of the motorcycle taxi in his vehicle was traveling in the same direction as the MINUSCA truck, which wanted to overtake him. The truck hit the motorcycle taxi with driver and passenger and immediately tried to escape. Eyewitnesses to the incident did not want the perpetrators to go unpunished and started chasing the MINUSCA truck on their motorcycles.
The pursuit ended three kilometers further when the MINUSCA truck ran over one of its pursuers on a motorcycle. The two motorcycle taxi drivers lost their lives as a result of the illegal actions of the UN mission.
People reacted strongly to the incident. Immediately, a large demonstration erupted in the streets of Bangui, with the participants demanding the departure of the mission from the Central African Republic. Angry people laid the bodies of the two deceased Central Africans in front of the Prime Minister's office on Avenue des Martyrs.
Another nasty episode was caused by the peacekeepers this summer when the MINUSCA vehicle tried to sabotage the Russian humanitarian column. On June 10, a UN column in the Yaloké region was driving to meet a humanitarian column of the Russian mission in the CAR. The driver of one of the UN car tried to cause an accident by driving in the wrong direction. Following an anti-accident maneuver undertaken by the main escort car, the left side mirror was shot down. The UN convoy continued to travel at high speed. After inspecting the car, the Russian humanitarian column continued to move.
It is very likely that this case was not an accident, but was caused deliberately by MINUSCA in an attempt to discredit the Russian mission.
Road accidents repeatedly caused by members of the UN mission are one of the reasons why the people of the Central African Republic want the peacekeepers to leave their country. Yet there are other reasons as well. These are mainly the ineffective patrols carried out by the mission and the reluctance of UN soldiers to intervene during attacks by rebel groups on the local population. There are many instances where the Central Africans have denounced the inaction of MINUSCA soldiers who took steps to stop the rebels only after the attack had already ended.
