CAR pleads with fleeing civilians to return after rebels attack villages

An armed fighter belonging to the 3R militia displays his weapon in the town of Koui, Central African Republic, April 27, 2017. [Reuters]

Central African Republic officials are pleading with civilians to go back to their villages, after up to 10,000 civilians were displaced this week by fighting between rebels and C.A.R. forces.

Officials say a rebel group known as the Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation, or 3R, has relaunched hostilities in the central African nation. This week, military sources said 3R rebels attacked nearly 10 villages between the towns of Bocaranga and Bazoum in northeastern C.A.R., near the Cameroon border.