UN force "remains on alert" to prevent any rebel return or other actions against civilians, after its troops have retaken control of a city in the Central African Republic captured two weeks ago by armed groups.
UN says Central African Republic's fourth-largest town Bambari "is under control" after armed groups were pushed back into the bush.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, however, said the government agreed that in the eastern provinces where active conflicts persist "MONUSCO will gradually consolidate its footprint.”
The UN’s most powerful body has been meeting by video because of Covid-19, which has hit New York City, where the UN has its headquarters, exceedingly hard.
Instead of acting as a stabilising force, UN peacekeeping troops have fathered hundreds of children after sexually exploiting local girls as young as 11, leaving them behind without any support, according to a new comprehensive report.
The mission was originally supposed to end in 2020 but the ousting of president Omar al Bashir and a recommendation by the new government led the UN to extend the mission and maintain the presence of 7,800 peacekeepers.
The number of fatal attacks on the UN peacekeeping forces in Africa has increased in recent years and the recent killing of 10 peacekeepers in Mali is alarming.
The UN has gotten scrutiny in recent years over claims of child rape and other sexual abuse by peacekeepers, and the four-year-old mission in Central African Republic has been confronted with a particularly high number of claims.
Seventeen people were killed in a flashpoint Muslim enclave of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), where a UN soldier also reportedly died.
UN troops are accused of sexually abusing minors and inadvertently introducing cholera into Haiti. Many nationals view their presence as affront to national sovereignty.
Head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the west African country says these were "terror" attacks that claimed the lives of a peacekeeper, a contractor and seven Malians.
China began construction on a logistics base in strategically located Djibouti last year, which will resupply naval vessels taking part in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia.
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