The rights group, Amnesty International, has called on the United Nations to investigate reports that UN peacekeers in the Central African Republic left their posts as civilians were being massacred at a refugee camp last month.

Amnesty said as many as a 100 people were killed when an armed group attacked the camp at Alindao in the south.

According to multiple witnesses, peacekeepers from the UN mission Minusca retreated in an armoured vehicle, leaving up to 18,000 people unprotected.

On Thursday, the UN Security Council renewed Minusca's mandate for another year.