BANGUI
A UN worker who was kidnapped Tuesday by unidentified militants in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), has been released, Hamadoun Touré, spokesman for the UN mission in CAR, said Wednesday.
"She was released in the late hours of Tuesday following talks between the UN mission and anti-balaka militiamen," Touré told The Anadolu Agency.
Gamal Hisho, who works for the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA)'s communications department, was abducted early Tuesday near Bangui airport, a MINUSCA source told AA on Tuesday.
A French woman working for a medical NGO and a cleric are still both in the hands of the kidnappers, who are presumed to be close to Rodrigue Ngaïbona, an anti-balaka leader arrested on Saturday by UN peacekeepers, the source added.
CAR descended into anarchy in 2013 when Muslim seleka rebels removed Francois Bozize, a Christian who had come to power in a 2003 coup. The rebels later installed Michel Djotodia, a Muslim, as interim president.
Last year, Djotodia stepped down as president – amid a wave of sectarian violence – to be replaced by a Christian leader.
Since then, the country has been plagued by tit-for-tat sectarian violence between Christian anti-balaka militias and former seleka fighters.
The 12,000-troop MINUSCA began deploying in the troubled central African country last year under a mandate from the UN Security Council.
