By Abimbola Ogunnaike
At least nine Chinese mine workers were killed in an attack at about 5:00 am near Bambari, the central town’s of mayor Abel Matchipata in the Central African Republic.
Matchipata told AFP that “nine bodies and two wounded” had been counted, adding that the victims were Chinese workers at a site run by the Gold Coast Group, 25 kilometres (15 miles) from his town.
China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday, 20 March, 2023,call on the country to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to book and be “severely” punished.
China’s foreign ministry confirmed the toll, and Xi called on authorities in the Central African Republic to “severely punish” those behind the killings.
The president had ordered “an all-out effort to treat the wounded, handle the aftermath in a timely manner, severely punish perpetrators in accordance with the law, and ensure the safety of Chinese citizens”, an unnamed China foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
As at the time of filling this report,local authorities did not release further details of the attack, nor was there any claim of responsibility.
The victims’ bodies, it was gatered were transferred to a hospital in the capital Bangui, where Chinese ambassador Li Qinfeng and CAR Foreign Minister Sylvie Baipo Temon attended, an AFP journalist said.
Civil conflict has hit the Central African Republic, one of the world’s poorest countries, since 2013, when Muslim-dominated armed groups ousted president Francois Bozize.
In a statement on Sunday,19 March 2023, the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), an alliance of rebel groups created in December 2020 to overthrow President Faustin Archange Touadera, denied any involvement in the attack.
