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Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has revealed that two of its staff members in the Central African Republic (CAR) have been arrested.
MSF, in a statement shared on Tuesday, said the two workers, including one French and the other a CAR national, were detained in the southern town of Zemio in DRC last week and then transferred to Bangui, the country’s capital.
CAR Defence Ministry accused the French staff member of the MSF, a humanitarian international non-governmental organisation (NGO), of partaking in activities aimed at destabilising the security situation” in the region, having “contacts with criminal elements” and working towards “subversive agitation among the local population of the Azande ethnic group” to “turn them against the legally elected authorities” in the country.
According to the Defence Ministry, the French aid worker had illegally crossed into the Central African Republic from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
The security situation in CAR is fragile, stemming fromthe 2013 civil war, when the Muslim-dominated Séléka coalition rebels overthrew the government. Although the country is s partially stabilised, it still remains volatile.
The DRC is facing one of the longest-running and most complex conflicts in Africa, especially in the eastern part of the country, involving government forces, rebel groups, neighbouring countries, and competition over valuable minerals.
Both countries have long, poorly controlled borders; thus, instability in eastern and northern DRC often spills over into CAR.
Aid workers in conflict-affected African countries, such as those who work for MSF, often operate in extremely dangerous and unpredictable environments. In places such as South Sudan, the DRC, CAR, and the Sahel, insecurity poses multiple challenges for humanitarian workers.
Some aid workers have been kidnapped for ransom by armed groups and killed during raids on health facilities. No fewer than 26 of the 291 MSF employees working in Lankien and Pieri in South Sudan were reported missing following a surge in violence in the regions.
