Crisis in Central African Republic

Christian militias take bloody revenge on Muslims in Central African Republic

Children are reportedly targeted by Christian anti-balaka gangs set up in wake of attacks by Muslim Seleka rebels.

They brought in the bodies one by one, laying them down on a white sheet concealed behind a flimsy black curtain. Among them was a man, probably in his 20s, his head twisted leftward, the skull dented on one side and cracked open on the other. The others also had fatal head injuries that stained the sheet crimson. The first flies began settling on the five corpses.

In the courtyard outside, voices were raised in anger and bewilderment. Mothers in pink and purple hijabs sobbed and wailed and a middle-aged man, possibly unused to naked shows of emotion, sat and gently wept. Finally the iron gate of the mosque was thrown open and the mourners surged forward to gaze at the dead. An imam, donning a plastic smock over his white robe, prepared to wash them while another man began cutting cotton shrouds for the day's burials.

The macabre scene in an area known as PK5 has become almost commonplace in Bangui, the humid and decaying capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), where Muslims are under siege. It has also been played out in towns and villages in the west of the country, redrawing the demographic map.

Muslims came here to trade in the early 19th century and made up 15% of the CAR's population a year ago, but since then untold thousands have been killed or displaced or have fled to neighbouring countries. The UN said last week that while 130,000 to 145,000 Muslims normally lived in the capital, Bangui, the population had been reduced to around 10,000 in December and now stood at just 900.

Amnesty International has called it "ethnic cleansing" and warned of a "Muslim exodus of historic proportions".

As Africa prepares to mark next month's 20th anniversaries of the Rwandan genocide and the end of South African apartheid, what is happening in this long-neglected state is a reminder that forgiveness and reconciliation are easy words but hewn from rock over generations. Christian militias freely admit that theirs is an exercise in vengeance, an eye for an eye, and they will not stop until they have "cleaned" the country of Muslims. On Monday, UN human rights investigators in CAR announced they would investigate reports of genocide.

The seeds were sown in March last year when the Seleka, a largely Muslim rebel group, seized Bangui in a coup, installed the country's first Muslim president, Michel Djotodia, and terrorised the majority Christian population, killing men, women and children. In response, predominantly Christian forces known as the anti-balaka (balaka means machete in Sango, the local language) launched counterattacks against the Seleka and perceived Muslim collaborators.

International pressure forced Djotodia to step down in January and soon the Seleka, who once strutted confidently about the capital, were retreating north where they continue to persecute Christians. But as the anti-balaka gained the advantage elsewhere, village after village lost its Muslim population, their homes looted and mosques razed to the ground. The turning of the tide has left many Muslims feeling bitter towards French peacekeepers and the new president, Catherine Samba-Panza, a Christian.

Bangui neighbourhoods such as PK5, once thriving with Muslim businesses, now resemble ghost towns. On a recent Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of market stalls and small shops were empty and deserted as a body lay in the road and gun-toting African peacekeepers patrolled in an armoured vehicle. Down side streets there were vehicles piled high with personal belongings. It is estimated that the Muslim population has dropped from around 7,000 to just 1,000 here.

At the mosque where the five bodies lay, there was rage, coupled with confusion over whether the anti-balaka or Burundian peacekeepers were responsible for the deaths. "It is happening every day," said Abdouraman Saudi, 45, who has lost numerous businesses. "If you're Muslim and you try to leave PK5, you're a dead man. It's a prison."

He vowed: "For me, it's finished. From today, we will not be the victims because we will attack the Christians. We are going to defend ourselves. From today with the international community, we don't care. We are not protected by them so we will attack them also."

In another largely Muslim neighbourhood, PK12, families camp out in grass and mud with buckets, carpets, mattresses, discarded rubbish, cooking pots over charcoal fires and a constant fear of lobbed grenades. Convoys that try to get out of here must run the gauntlet of taunting Christian mobs. In one incident, a Muslim who fell from a vehicle was summarily lynched. In another, five children suffocated in an overcrowded truck and were found dead when the convoy arrived at Bangui's military airport.

Ibrahim Alawad, 55, a lawyer, pointed to a trench and fresh burial mounds and said he had buried a 22-year-old student hours earlier. The area's population had shrunk from 25,000 people six months ago to 2,700 today, he said, while four mosques had been destroyed. "They're not killing the Muslims, they're sweeping them. Imagine someone wants to kill you, roast you on the fire and eat you. It's the hell of the hell. There are no living conditions here."

French peacekeepers stood by at a near checkpoint but there was growing Muslim hostility towards them too. "Our problem is the French," Alawad said. "They are the white anti-balaka. It's like Rwanda, they want to do it again, but we won't let them."

No amount of Muslim suffering appears to elicit mercy from the anti-balaka, who believe they are meeting a fitting punishment for the crimes of the Seleka. Dr Jean Chrysostome Gody, director of the country's sole paediatric hospital, which is supported by Unicef, recalled: "I saw mothers whose children had been killed or injured and they had hate in their heart."

As the anti-balaka responded, he added, children were no longer caught in the crossfire but deliberately targeted. "There were bullets in the heads and chests of children. It's not possible they were there by accident. It's as if people are trying to finish off another race. It's about extreme revenge and it's brutal."

One anti-balaka base is nicknamed "Boeing" because it is within close sight and sound of air traffic at Bangui airport. In a clearing shaded by trees amid modest mudbrick houses, six of the militia men sprawled on two squashy sofas. One wore a Barcelona football shirt with the name Messi on the back; another carried a bow and arrow; several had machetes. When a French patrol comes to disarm them every few days, they hide their weapons in the bush.

Forgiveness is not in the lexicon here. Sebastien Wenezoui, 32, a civil engineer, said he helped instigate the anti-balaka after his parents and brothers were killed by the Seleka and their house torched. "I was shocked. Today you can see my feelings in what I'm doing now. I had to express myself. If you were me, would you be comfortable with those things?"

Asked if he felt this justified the killing of innocent women and children, Wenezoui replied: "For me it's a response to what the Seleka have done. They started killing our children and wives and destroyed our homes. Revenge is good sometimes and bad sometimes. But we have to do it."

Wenezoui expressed no regrets about the Muslim exodus. "I'm not sad at all because when Seleka took power the Muslims, who were our best friends, were the ones destroying the houses and killing people. It's a kind of lesson. They acted like betrayers so they have to go and learn something and come back with respectful behaviour."

Yet sitting with Wenezoui and his colleagues was a Muslim: Ibrahim Amadou, 22, who said he joined the anti-balaka after his wife, three children, parents and seven siblings were shot dead by the Seleka. He still prays on Fridays but does so at home because fellow Muslims would recognise him at a mosque.

"I cannot give all the details of what I'm doing," said Amadou, wearing an array of animal skin and leather charms around his neck and shoulders that he believes make him invisible to enemies. "I'm working for the country. A soldier is a soldier: he cannot give his secrets."

Nearby, there is no sign of respite for tens of thousands of people squatting outside the international airport, fearful of going home in a city where the Red Cross said more than 10 people were killed in February, some found with their genitals stuffed in their mouths, and where grenades are said to be available at street markets for 250 CFA (31p) and Kalashnikov rifles for 10,000-15,000 CFA (£12-£18). There is a threat of the country splitting in two, and a fully fledged UN peacekeeping mission may be required to stop it.
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Shocking, but no different to what Boko-Haram are doing (and have been doing for years now) in Nigeria.
 
UN CHIEF SLAMS 'APPALLING ATROCITIES' IN C.AFRICA

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday strongly condemned the drawn-out conflict in the Central African Republic that has left thousands of people killed and over a million others displaced.

"I am deeply troubled by the appalling atrocities against the civilians there," the UN secretary general told reporters during a visit to Czech capital Prague.

He added that he hoped the European Union, the African Union and the United Nations would "work together to establish peace and stability" in the gold- and diamond-rich country with a population of 4.6 million people.

About a quarter of its residents have been displaced and hundreds of thousands of others face starvation because of the conflict between the Christian majority and minority Muslims, according to UN agencies and aid charities.

"Central Africa is one of my top priorities (and) it will be my continuing priority," said the 69-year-old Ban, who heads to Rwanda on Saturday to attend ceremonies for the 20th anniversary of the genocide.

Earlier this week a statement released by Ban's spokesman on the Central African Republic called for the compilation of a list of individuals who "act to undermine peace, stability and security" as set out by a UN Security Council resolution adopted in December last year.

Ban's statement on Monday included a reminder that anyone involved in spreading violence either directly or indirectly "will be held accountable for their actions and brought to justice."


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 04 Apr 2014 14:21
 
Strife-weary CAR nostalgic for bloody 'emperor'

In the nightmare of the strife-torn Central African Republic, many citizens have begun to long for the "good old days" of Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the emperor who became infamous for his brutality yet worked economic wonders in their eyes.

Some residents of the capital Bangui are openly nostalgic for the Bokassa era, which lasted from his military coup in 1966 until his overthrow in 1979, two years after a hugely extravagant coronation when the former soldier proclaimed himself emperor.

His fans point to his legacy in public works, including buildings, electricity supplies and transport, neglected by his successors in one of Africa's poorest countries.

"Kolingba came, he built nothing. Patasse came, he built nothing. Bozize came, he built nothing. Djotodia came, he built nothing," Daniel Nganazouri said, reeling off the names of successive presidents.

Then he simply pointed around. "But that building there, the tar on the road and even that electricity pylon, they were Bokassa's work. Even if he was a thief, he did a lot of good."

A group of young people listening in voiced their approval -- though it was not unanimous.

"Fine, but he was still a dictator," said one of them, Faustin.

Jean-Bedel Bokassa was born in a village in 1921 and named after a saint, Jean Baptiste de la Salle.

He became a rifleman in the French colonial army in 1931 and quit in 1962, after attaining the rank of captain and serving in Indochina and Algeria.

Still a soldier in the newly independent Central African Republic, Bokassa seized power on New Year's Eve 1965, proclaiming justice and equality for all.

But during his long rule he became infamous for brutality, torture and summary executions.

He was also seen as a stalwart backer of France's sometimes meddling activities in its former African colonies.

Dubbed "a trooper" by France's Charles de Gaulle, Bokassa declared himself president for life and marshal of the army.

He also converted to Islam before organising a coronation modelled on that of Napoleon I, at an estimated cost of $20 million.

No heads of state attended the ceremony, but France was represented by a government minister.

Two of the six French horses brought in to haul the imperial carriage died in the equatorial heat, but guests were offered 60,000 bottles of champagne and Burgundy wine.

Then-French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who enjoyed hunting gazelles and other wildlife, developed close ties with Bokassa.

However, when revelations emerged that Giscard had accepted diamonds from his African friend, the scandal contributed to his electoral defeat in 1981, when Francois Mitterand and the Socialist party swept to power in France.

"People were paid under Bokassa. The Central African army was stable and even set an example for other African countries," said a waiter at the decaying Hotel Oubabangui.

Today, the CAR's army is in tatters, undermined by decades of mutinies and rebellions.

After more than a year of ethnic and religious violence that has claimed thousands of lives the troops trying to restore order come from other African countries and France.

The crisis erupted in March 2013 when the mainly Muslim rebels of the Seleka alliance overthrew the government.

They installed their leader, Michel Djotodia, as head of state, but he stepped down last January under international pressure, accused of failing to halt the spiral of violence between the Muslim minority and the Christian majority, with atrocities on all sides.

"I was too young under Bokassa, but my father spoke well of him to me, saying that he was a good president and a true nationalist," said the director of the national museum in Bangui, Albertine Ouaboua, in an office with neither a door nor windows.

Like the rest of the premises, the room was badly damaged in recent strife and the museum is closed.

Ouaboua has not been paid for five months, but like countless others who have scraped by with no salary, she goes to work for fear of being sacked, she said.

Dania, a diplomat's daughter and hostess, gave another perspective on Bokassa.

"He killed a lot all the same," she said.

The French intervention that ousted Bokassa in September 1979 was in part due to his notorious massacre of about 100 children five months earlier, when they refused to wear costly school uniforms.

In Bangui, with its deeply rutted streets and crumbling bridges, a number of buildings mark out bygone times, including a 20,000-seater stadium built by the Chinese and the red-brick Roman Catholic cathedral, where street sellers still offer copies of the official gazette from Bokassa's day and books on the "philosophy" of his rule.

Many supporters hold Bokassa in undying reverence.

When an AFP reporter went to Bangui in November 1996 to cover Bokassa's funeral and the latest army mutiny, the following strange exchange took place on the way out of the cathedral.

Emu, a loyal supporter of the late ruler, said: "It will be better when he comes back."

"But he's dead," the journalist answered.

"Yes, I know," Emu replied. "But it will still be better when he comes back."
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Link.
 
‘West pits black against black to reap profit’

Press TV has conducted an interview with Randy Short, with the BANCO (Black Autonomy Network Community Organization) from Washington, to discuss systematic ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Central African Republic.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Dr. Short let me understand here this overview that Julius Mbaluto gave us, it does not clearly explain what is going on with the killing of Muslims in the form and fashion that it is. I mean this country had little story of religious conflict, so that part is missing. How did this happen? I mean were the Muslims marginalized? Perhaps you can tell us what was occurring there.

Short: Well, he has been very, very factual in explaining how the conflict came in and so he is telling you that..., but what needs to be added which is not immediately made available for people to understand is that France put these young ... and others to topple the government of Bu Azizi because he began to engage in business negotiations with the Chinese, which meant that the French wanted him gone and what ended up happening..., yes, it is true that the majority of the people of the country are either Christian or they are following the traditional African religions, the people who are Muslims, many of them are from Chad or there was a history in the past where some of the people who were Muslim, engaged in slave trading of people who were not Muslim. There was some of this way back, it is not recent.

However the French, as have the British and others, have always worked to make people of color or different religions fight each other, so they can profit and this is at the heart of it.

There is not a Muslim-Christian problem per se that is deep-seated but what you see is the French using what is called a Gang-Countergang Strategy which the British used for their genocide in Kenya..., but it was called a Gang-Countergang Strategy.

This was developed in Malaysia to get Muslims and other people to kill each other when the British did not want to lose control and so this is what is happening, except in this instance the United States is trying to drive France out of all of Central Africa and they have been doing this since the 1980’s. It started with Museveni , it is with Paul Kagame and Kabila, they are all Tutsis who are being used as ethnic ... agents that are driving the French and Belgian and other interests out for America’s geopolitical strategies and to some degree the Great Britain.
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More.
 
‘West pits black against black to reap profit’
etc....
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Really?

Is "black against black" not part of the culture?
I think many Somali migrants in SA would differ with that statement and none of them would blame the west.

Shaka, Mzilikaze, Mantatise and Dingaan all did pretty well without any help from anyone.

For a thousand years black tribes were attacking their neighbours and selling slaves to the Arabs on the east coast and, by all accounts, the trade has not stopped.

On the west coast, the trade lasted some three hundred years before the British banned it, later supported by the US and France.

Right now, the treatment of local workers by Chinese in Zambia and Zimbabwe is little more than old fashioned slavery.
 
UN EVACUATES 100 MUSLIMS FROM C. AFRICA CAPITAL

The United Nations has evacuated almost 100 Muslims from the capital of the crisis-torn Central African Republic to "save their lives", according to officials.

Supported by staff from the UN's refugee agency, 93 Muslims were transported east from Bangui to the town of Bambari, according to El Hadj Abacar ben Ousmane, senior official in the town some 300 kilometres (185 miles) from the capital.

Sectarian violence in the former French colony has killed thousands in the last year.

The Muslim group travelled to Bambari from Sunday through to Monday in a two trucks, accompanied by a convoy of vehicles from the French peacekeeping force Sangaris, the UNHCR refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration.

The convoy was pelted with stones as it passed through the town of Sibut, a member of the African-led MISCA peacekeeping force told AFP.

"This is a measure to save their lives, taken as a last resort after a long time considering their case," said Tammi Sharpe, deputy head of the UNHCR in the Central Africa Republic.

She said the evacuated Muslims had been "constantly attacked" in their northern Bangui neighbourhood of PK 12, where conditions at the moment are "particularly tense".

In Bambari, a Christian-majority town of 45,000 people, El Hadj Abacar ben Ousmane said Muslims and Christians could live in "harmony".

"We would have no objection to welcoming others. We have no problems with each other," he said.

The Central African Republic, one of the poorest countries in the world, plunged into a crisis after a coup by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels in March last year.

After seizing power, some of the rebels went rogue and embarked on a campaign of killing, raping and looting.

The abuses prompted members of the Christian majority to form vigilante groups, unleashing a wave of brutal tit-for-tat killings -- leaving thousands dead, close to a million displaced, and warnings that the country is on the brink of genocide.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 22 Apr 2014 03:42
 
HEMMED IN BY HATE, LAST MUSLIMS IN C.AFRICA CAPITAL PRAY FOR ESCAPE

Hundreds of Muslims, among the last remaining in the Central African Republic's capital after months of brutal sectarian violence, are trapped in a slum desperately hoping to be saved from militia attacks.

Some 1,300 refugees are thought to be holed up in the PK-12 neighbourhood -- an area 12 kilometres outside the capital Bangui -- having fled from all corners of the conflict-ravaged country.

Many have been here for months. Almost 100 were evacuated under international protection on Monday, but the rest are stuck, hemmed in by the mostly Christian "anti-balaka" militias that have launched fierce attacks against the Muslim community.

Once, Muslims and Christians and a variety of ethnic groups lived comfortably together in Bangui. But the cycle of sectarian violence that broke out last year has caused almost the entire Muslim population of the city to flee, leaving their houses abandoned.

The anti-balaka have taken a merciless vengeance on the community after the Seleka, a mostly Muslim rebel group, temporarily seized power in a coup in March 2013.

Anti-balaka means "anti-machete" in the local Sango language and refers to the weapon of choice wielded by the Seleka -- but also taken up by the vigilantes.

Those stranded in PK-12 have only one wish: to slip quietly into a protected convoy of vehicles headed across the border to Chad.

"We came for two days, but we've been here for five months," said Yaya Yougoudou, one of the community's elders.

When the Chadian government decided to stop evacuation operations earlier this month -- having already brought tens of thousands over the border -- it left the families in PK-12 stranded and surrounded by anti-balaka.

Their days are a relentless agony. Emaciated faces betray the hunger and disease that run rampant in this slum, now reduced to just two or three rows of houses, where food is increasingly scarce.

"Look over there! The people waiting are anti-balaka. That little bridge is our limit," said Abacar Hassan, one of the few original inhabitants of the area.

"Over there" is just 100 metres away on the road out of town, which marks a frontier between life and death. Any Muslim crossing that line would be lucky to survive more than 20 seconds.

To the south, on the other side of the road towards Bangui, a French armoured vehicle is the only thing protecting them.

Beyond that is nothing but destruction. A few walls are still standing, but all the roofs have collapsed. A small suitcase lies on the ground, ripped apart amid a few discarded plastic objects.

PK-12 is permanently under siege from the anti-balaka.

In one of the slum houses, a wall is studded with impact marks. "They threw a grenade here on April 11. A women was killed. She was preparing porridge for her child," said Abdel Hafiss, a teacher.

There are 22 new graves in the nearby cemetery, 18 of them for people assassinated by the anti-balaka since December, say residents.

The Christians, even the well-intentioned among them, can no longer pass through this Muslim enclave. The two communities are now like "two boxers" circling each other, says one humanitarian worker.

"Later, we might be able to talk of reconciliation. But for now it is impossible. The Muslims want to leave, the Christians want them to leave."

On Sunday, a first convoy made up of 93 people and organised with help from the United Nations, left for Bambari in the centre of the country under the protection of international forces, arriving the following day.

"It was an operation of last resort. It would have been better if they could stay, but that was not possible," said Maeve O'Donnell, a member of the International Organisation for Migration.

Those who left have stayed in contact by telephone with the people they left behind in Bangui.

"Over there, the site is perfect. There is room. They are comfortable, without facing threats. Some have even made a tour of the neighbourhood," reports Oumar Issaka, the leader of PK-12.

The day of their departure was one of "complete euphoria, even for those who were staying", says the humanitarian worker. "People saw that things were, finally, progressing."

The rest still hope to follow, heading to Sido and Kabo, two camps near the Chadian border.

"The move has been planned, but not finalised. We are just waiting for the authorities to give the go ahead," said O'Donnell.

But that green light from the government could still take time. On Monday, Central Africa's Reconciliation Minister Antoinette Montaigne criticised the evacuation missions as giving a "de facto acceptance of the alleged division of our country".

For those desperate to escape, that division is already a reality.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 23 Apr 2014 23:57
 
22 KILLED IN ATTACK ON C.AFRICA MSF HOSPITAL

At least 22 people including three staff members of medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres were killed during a weekend attack by gunmen on a Central African hospital, in the latest atrocity to hit the violence-plagued country.

The brutal attack in the northwest was blamed on the mostly Muslim rebels known as the Seleka, whose coup in March last year unleashed a vicious cycle of sectarian violence.

"Armed men from the ex-Seleka and of Fula ethnicity on Saturday afternoon attacked a hospital supported by MSF in the region of Nanga Boguila, killing at least 22 people, including three Central African employees of MSF and leaving a dozen wounded," an officer from the African-led MISCA peacekeeping force told AFP on Monday.

MSF confirmed the death of its three employees, without giving further details.

The gunmen had stormed into the building as local representatives and MSF employees held a meeting, the MISCA officer said.

"The assailants first opened fire at a group of people, gunning down four of them. Then they went to the hospital where they killed 15 other people and three members of MSF.

"They took computers and several other assets, breaking down doors probably in search for cash," added the officer.

"France strongly condemns the deadly attack perpetrated on April 27 against the medical centre," said French foreign ministry spokesman Roman Nadal on Monday.

"The perpetrators of this intolerable attack must be brought to justice," he said, while adding his praise for MSF's work "in difficult conditions and under threat to their lives".

The Seleka rebels were ordered to disarm by their leader Michel Djotodia several months after they installed him in power in a coup. But some ignored orders and went on a killing, raping and pillaging rampage.

Mostly Christian communities then formed "anti-balaka" vigilante forces to wreak revenge against Muslims, usually targeting innocent people.

Djotodia resigned in January after failing to put down the violence that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced a quarter of the country's 4.6 million population. And today, extremists of the Seleka alliance actively encourage de facto partition.

African and French peacekeepers, backed up recently by an EU force, have been struggling to curb the fighting ripping the country apart.

"It is a region that is not completely secured, because our forces (are not large enough) to be deployed in other sites than the main cities like Bossangoa," said the MISCA officer, referring to a city about 100 kilometres from the scene of the MSF attack.

The weekend attack came as 1,300 Muslims left the capital Bangui on Sunday under heavy guard.

Tens of thousands have already fled northwards, almost emptying the south of the country of Muslims. They have travelled to predominantly Muslim areas in the north, while thousands of others have fled across borders into Chad and Cameroon.

The religious and ethnic faultlines that are driving the conflict are particularly disheartening in a country where these groups lived peacefully alongside each other for generations despite a succession of coups, misrule, army mutinies and strikes.

Earlier in April, UN chief Ban Ki-moon made an impassioned plea on the warring parties to prevent a new genocide on the continent, 20 years after Rwanda.

A 12,000-strong UN force is scheduled to deploy in September in the former French colony, taking over from 2,000 French and 6,000 African Union soldiers already in place.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ns
Date : 28 Apr 2014 14:20
 
FRENCH FORCES COME UNDER FIERCE ATTACK IN C. AFRICA

French troops had to call for air backup to battle off an assault by well-armed militants in the Central African Republic on Monday, in clashes that left several gunmen dead, the military chief of staff in Paris said.

Around 40 heavily-armed militants on motorcycles and pick-up trucks swarmed onto the French soldiers on a road leading to the village of Boguila in the northwest of the strife-torn country, a spokesman told AFP.

"Faced with the aggressiveness of this adversary, the French force resorted to heavy arms, mortars and anti-tank missiles," said Colonel Gilles Jaron. "There was air backup from fighter jets from N'Djamena" in neighbouring Chad.

The battle, which lasted for about three hours and stopped as darkness fell, destroyed part of the militant convoy and left several of the attackers dead, the army chief said.

No casualties were reported on the French side.

The landlocked and deeply poor country descended into conflict after a March 2013 coup by mainly Muslim rebels of the Seleka alliance, who seized power for 10 months.

Many of the ex-rebels eventually went rogue, targeting civilians and their property in vicious attacks that displaced hundreds of thousands.

In response, mostly Christian vigilantes known as "anti-balaka" were formed, going on to kill and terrorise Muslims.

France has deployed about 2,000 troops to back the 6,000 Africans of the MISCA force.

More than 100 people have been killed in a renewed bout of fighting in the past 10 days, as charity Doctors Without Borders said it would reduce its work in the country after a bloody attack on a hospital.


Source : Sapa-AFP /avb/jk
Date : 06 May 2014 10:45
 
29 CHILDREN STARVE, FREEZE TO DEATH FLEEING C.AFRICA: UN

Nearly 30 children fleeing the war-ravaged Central African Republic have died in just a month from starvation, exhaustion and exposure after crossing into Cameroon, the UN said Friday.

"In the last month, the rate of deaths among refugee children has been particularly high," Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the United Nations' refugee agency, told reporters in Geneva.

Between April 14 and May 18, 29 children, the youngest a baby and the eldest nine years old, had died after crossing into Cameroon, UNHCR said.

Many refugees fleeing bloody sectarian clashes in Central African Republic have been forced to hide in the bush without food or clean water for weeks on end, and are arriving in Cameroon in "extremely poor shape," he said.

Most of the children who had died arrived malnourished and gravely ill, Edwards said, adding that efforts to save them at therapeutic feeding centres had failed.

"Dehydration, hypothermia and severe anaemia were the main causes of death," he said.

The UN's World Food Programme said more than a quarter of the children arriving in Cameroon from Central Africa were suffering from acute malnutrition.

"That is well above the 15-percent emergency threshold," WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs pointed out, describing the situation as "dramatic".

Some 85,000 refugees have arrived in Cameroon from Central Africa since December -- 80 percent of them women and children -- and are spread out across 300 villages, according to UNHCR.

Deeply impoverished Central Africa has been gripped by crisis since mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in a March 2013 coup, but then were replaced with an interim government in January.

Splinter groups of Seleka rebels, however, embarked on a campaign of killing, raping and looting, prompting members of the Christian majority to form vigilante "anti-balaka" groups.

The two groups have unleashed a wave of tit-for-tat killings that has left thousands dead and close to a million displaced -- most of them Muslims.

Edwards pointed out Friday that anti-Balaka militiamen had been attacking refugees along the way to Cameroon and had blocked the main roads leading to that country.

As a result, the number of refugees flooding into Cameroon had dropped to around 2,000 a week from around 10,000 during the final week of March, he said.

"The journey that people are making from CAR is a journey of intimidation, starvations and death," he said, stressing that many of those arriving in Cameroon and other countries were not only severely malnourished but also severely wounded.

"Newly arriving refugees tell us that many of their family members remain trapped in the bush in CAR," he said.

UN agencies and other aid organisations were working to meet the towering needs of the refugees in Cameroon, but funding is sorely lacking.

Of the $22.6 million the UNHCR has said it needs for its operation there this year, it has so far received just $4.2 million Edwards said.

The situation for WFP was even worse, lamented Byrs, pointing out that the UN agency had requested $15.6 million but had so far received no funds.


Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 23 May 2014 14:26
 
When the money runs out??? Lets eat each other... going to happen all over here.
 
FRENCH FIGHT MUSLIM REBELS IN C. AFRICAN REPUBLIC

French forces in Central African Republic fired mortars and exchanged sustained gunfire on Saturday with Muslim rebels who once controlled the country.

The substantial engagement by the French, including a Gazelle helicopter that fired a rocket, occurred in the central town of Bambari. Ex-Seleka forces crossed the bridge on the Bangui road and engaged French forces 300 meters from a bridge, prompting the French to fire warning shots and mortars, said a French military officer on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

Many local residents had earlier demonstrated against the French forces and blocked the bridge to prevent them from passing.

The group known as Seleka was forced from power in January nearly a year after its fighters overthrew the president. Christian militias have sprung up, saying they are seeking revenge for atrocities committed during Seleka's rule and plunging the country into sectarian violence that has left thousands dead and forced nearly 1 million people to flee their homes.

The exchange Saturday shows that former Seleka rebels, who have been in disarray since they were forced from power, have not been defeated and may be gaining strength. Hundreds of the Muslim fighters had gathered more than two weeks ago to choose Gen. Joseph Zindeko as their new leader. He was once a commander of a rebel base in the capital, Bangui. At that time, the rebels said they intended to create a political wing so they can participate in reconciliation talks.

Around 2,000 French troops and nearly 5,000 African peacekeepers are trying to stabilize Central African Republic, a country about the size of Texas. Last month, the U.N. Security Council authorized a nearly 12,000-strong peacekeeping force to bolster the troops already in the country to protect civilians, though the U.N. force is not expected to be operational until September.


Source : Sapa-AP /sdv
Date : 24 May 2014 16:04
 
GUNMEN HAVE KILLED 17 MUSLIMS IN C. AFRICA: PEACEKEEPERS

Gunmen have killed 17 Muslims at a camp in the centre of the strife-torn Central African Republic in the latest sectarian violence to wrack the impoverished country, peacekeepers said on Tuesday.

"Seventeen people, all of them from the (Muslim) Fulani minority, were killed on Monday by young gunmen claiming to be from the (mostly Christian) anti-balaka" militia near the town of Bambari, an officer from the African Union force told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that "some of the bodies were mutilated and burnt by the assailants."

The killings sparked reprisal attacks in the town by the mostly Muslim Seleka ex-rebel force.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mjs
Date : 24 Jun 2014 10:04
 
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN CAR: RIGHTS GROUP

War crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed with impunity in the Central African Republic, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said in a report published Tuesday.

The report, entitled "They must all leave or die", is the result of several FIDH missions to the deeply-impoverished nation, and established contacts with mainly-Muslim Seleka alliance which seized power last year and the Christian vigilante "anti-balaka" (anti-machete) groups.

"It is a political and ethnic struggle for power, which has gradually taken on a religious dimension," Mathias Morouba, vice-chairman of the OCDH, a Congolese rights group, said in the report.

"But those who give the orders today will be held responsible for this ethnic cleansing and the international crimes they are committing," he insisted.

Since their December 2013 offensive on the capital, Bangui, the anti-balaka "have been systematically attacking civilians, in particular Muslims," the report said.

Meanwhile, the Seleka former rebels "continue to perpetrate serious human-rights violations and international crimes," it added.

Among the Seleka, the report singles out former president, Michel Djotodia, his head of intelligence Noureddine Adam, and the head of the Sudanese Janjaweed militia who ransacked and pillaged Darfur, General Moussa Assimeh for their roles in this "conflict of impunity".

As for the anti-balaka, "the investigations carried out have established the presence and the activism amongst them of numerous officers of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) and of people close to the deposed president, François Bozize," the FIDH declared.

"The international community must support African, French and soon UN forces in putting an end to these crimes, protect civilians and bring those responsible for these crimes to justice," said FIDH president Karim Lahidji.

Since January 2013, the conflict has resulted in nearly 3,000 dead, thousands wounded, hundreds of victims of sexual crimes and more than a million displaced persons, the report said.

In one of the atrocities listed, Ibrahim, 30, told the FIDH that last December he fled an anti-balaka attack, leaving his family behind as "I thought that they would only attack men".

Upon his return his wife had disappeared and hasn't been seen since, and his two children, aged eight and 10, were dead.

"I've lost everything," Ibrahim said.

"The need for justice in the CAR is such that we will need both national justice and the ICC International Criminal Court) to be able to try all the perpetrators and those responsible for these crimes," said FIDH Vice President Drissa Traore.

The report added that the Central African authorities "must consider creating trial courts capable of understanding and judging such crimes, with full respect for international standards for fair trials within a reasonable time period."


Source : Sapa-AFP /mm
Date : 24 Jun 2014 04:08
 
NEARLY 50 KILLED IN FRESH WAVE OF VIOLENCE IN CENTRAL AFRICA

Nearly 50 people have been killed in three days in a fresh surge of sectarian violence in the Central African Republic, a peacekeeping officer said Wednesday.

The violence was triggered by the killing of 17 Muslims at a camp in the central Bambari region on Monday, by gunmen claiming to be from a mostly Christian militia called the anti-balaka.

"Nearly 50 people have been killed since Monday during violence in the Bambari region and nearby villages," the officer from the African Union force MISCA told AFP. "Most of the victims were shot or stabbed to death."

Peacekeepers say there have been a series of tit-for-tat attacks in the region following the massacre.

The officer said that the violence has been carried out both by "uncontrolled individuals and by small groups", and that civilians were fleeing towards the cathedral, the archbishops palace, and local government buildings for safety.

"Apart from attacks aimed at civilians and the burning down of houses, there are also clashes that appear to be coordinated attacks by armed groups," both from Christian and Muslim militias, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Central African Republic has seen more than a year of unrest since the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel group seized power in a coup, unfurling a vicious cycle of violence with largely Christian militias.

The fighting has left tens of thousands dead and about a quarter of the population of some 4.5 million displaced.

Bambari, where the ex-Seleka rebels have established their new headquarters, is being closely watched by French soldiers from the Sangaris mission and African peacekeepers from the MISCA force, although they have not been able to contain the violence.

Fighting in a village outside Bambari in early June left at least 22 people dead, both Muslim and Christian, according to security officials and last week 10 bodies showing signs of torture were found in a river in the region.

In a report released on Tuesday, advocacy group the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said that "war crimes and crimes against humanity" continue to be carried out as the "conflict of impunity" rages in the former French colony.

"The international community must support African, French and soon UN forces in putting an end to these crimes, protect civilians and bring those responsible for these crimes to justice," FIDH president Karim Lahidji said.


Source : Sapa-AFP /nsm
Date : 25 Jun 2014 12:56
 
CENTRAL AFRICA DEATH TOLL RISES TO 70 IN FOUR DAYS

The death toll in the Central African Republic has risen to nearly 70 in just four days, a peacekeeping officer said Thursday, following a surge of sectarian violence in the crisis-hit country.

The deaths have all happened since Monday near the central town of Barbari, which has seen a series of bloody clashes between mainly Muslim ex-Seleka rebels and Christian militias.

"Nearly 70 people have been killed since Monday in violence in Bambari and the nearby villages, at least a hundred people have been injured and around 150 houses have been burnt down," a member of the African peacekeeping force MISCA told AFP, requesting anonymity.

"The death toll is still provisional because we have not been able to access all of the area," he added.

Earlier in the week the same officer said that many of those who had been killed had been shot or stabbed to death, and that clashes "appear to be coordinated attacks by armed groups," both from Christian and Muslim militias.

The area has seen a surge in violence since the killing of 17 Muslims at a camp in the region on Monday, by gunmen claiming to be from a mostly Christian militia called the anti-balaka.

A spokesman from the militia denied that they were behind the attack, but the massacre led to an outbreak of tit-for-tat violence and caused many civilians to flee their homes to seek refuge.

In Bangui, some inhabitants were calling Thursday for a three-day period of mourning for the victims.

"I will observe it, and will be putting a piece of black cloth on my shirt. It is unacceptable that the authorities are not reacting to what is happening in Bambari, innocent people are being massacred," said local resident Louis Ngakossi, who is currently in the capital Bangui.

The country has seen more than a year of unrest since the Seleka seized power in a coup in March 2013, installing their leader as president until he resigned last January, giving way to a transitional regime.

Armed ex-Seleka rebels from the Muslim community and Christian militias have been accused of causing thousands of deaths, with the violence leading to as many as a quarter of the population being displaced.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ma
Date : 26 Jun 2014 13:48
 
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