[Al Jazeera] A recently formed rebel group in the Central African Republic (CAR) is wreaking havoc in the western half of the country, displacing thousands and emptying towns and villages in a country already hit hard by instability.
The Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation group, or 3R, was formed in late 2015 and has displaced at least 30,000 people in the Ouham Pende region in CAR, debilitating relief efforts in the region, the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
"Approximately 15,000 fled [from Koui in Ouham Pende] to the neighbouring town of Bocaranga and another 15,000 have not been identified yet ... they sought refuge in the bush and along the axis leading to Bocaranga," Yaye Nabo Sene, spokesperson at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the capital, Bangui, said.
Sene said that overall, some 70,000 people have been displaced across CAR since September, due to ongoing festivities between gangs vying for regional control.
The UN's comments come two days after Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the emergence of a new rebel group operating in the western parts of the country.
The watchdog accused the group of killing at least 50 people and displacing another 17,000 in a series of campaigns launched across the region between November 21 and 27. Two months earlier, the group allegedly raided the town of De Gaulle, killing 17 people and raping up to 43 women and girls. 
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