UN inquiry urged into Central African Republic massacre

JOHANNESBURG – Amnesty International is urging the United Nations to investigate a massacre last month in Central African Republic in which the rights group says at least 70 civilians were killed while U.N. peacekeepers did not protect them.

A report released Friday cites multiple witnesses as saying the outnumbered Mauritanian peacekeepers retreated without firing a shot when rebels attacked a displaced persons camp in Alindao.

The peacekeeping mission chief, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, has acknowledged that it “unfortunately … was not able to react to prevent this type of violence.”

More than 18,000 civilians have been sheltering at the Alindao site as interreligious and intercommunal fighting continues five years after it erupted in the landlocked, impoverished nation.

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday approved a resolution extending the mandate of the 14,600-strong U.N. force.