A key militia in the Central African Republic has said it is suspending its participation in a peace agreement signed by the government and rebel groups last year that has led to relative calm in the war-torn country.
"The 3R movement has decided to suspend all its participation in the bodies involved in implementing" the peace pact, the group's leader Sidiki Abass said in a statement released late Friday.
On Wednesday, the UN's peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, known by the acronym MINUSCA, had warned Sidiki Abass "against his expansionist tendencies in other parts of the region, in clear violation of the political accord for peace and reconciliation in the Central African Republic."
In May 2019, four months after the peace pact was signed, 46 civilians were killed by 3R members in Paoua, in the northwest of the country.
Four months later, Sidiki Abass, also known as Sidi Bi Soulemane, announced his resignation as military adviser to the CAR government, a post he had held as part of the peace deal.
