The EU’s official representation in the Central African Republic was hit by a major fire, the EU’s ambassador to the country announced Monday.
“The buildings of the EU delegation in Bangui were ravaged by fire overnight. No one was injured,” ambassador Douglas Carpenter wrote on Twitter.
“All personnel is safe and sound. We are working with Central African authorities to quickly shed light on the causes of the incident,” EU spokesperson for foreign affairs Nabila Massrali tweeted.
The country’s top police officer, Colonel Bienvenu Zokoué, quoted by Turkish state agency Anadolu, said the fire’s origin was “unknown” and that “investigations (were) open.”
A former French colony, the Central African Republic has been the theater of a civil war for a decade, and has recently become a source of tension over Russian and French influence on the continent.
Last week, the head of Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused France of being involved in a package bomb attack that injured a Russian official in Bangui, which French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna later labeled “Russian propaganda.”
