BANGUI, (Central African Republic): Leaders of the three main armed rebel groups occupying large areas of the Central African Republic announced a coalition Saturday, ahead of next week’s elections and as UN peacekeepers deployed in response to fresh attacks.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for calm and for all sides to work together to ensure credible elections there.

But the rebels’ announcement could further fuel tensions already on the rise in the troubled country ahead of a presidential and legislative vote on December 27, where the opposition fears massive electoral fraud. The armed groups had decided “to combine all of our movements into a single entity, called the Coalition of Patriots for Change or CPC, under a unified command,” they wrote in the statement. The CPC invited “all other armed groups to join”.

They also urged its members to “scrupulously respect the integrity of the civilian population” and to allow vehicles belonging to the United Nations and to humanitarian groups to circulate freely.