Central African Republic

[Greed]

Central African Republic: What's going on, what's at stake, what's next
By Faith Karimi, CNN
updated 9:31 AM EST, Mon December 2, 2013

(CNN) -- Reports of rapes, killings and other horrors are growing in the Central African Republic. Rights groups accuse security forces and militia gangs of torturing civilians as world leaders warn that the nation is on the verge of genocide.

Here's a quick primer to get you up to speed on the escalating situation.

1. First things first: Tell me about the Central African Republic

The landlocked nation in central Africa is home to about 5 million people. It declared independence from France in 1960, and has since been under the leadership of Presidents or Emperors. Despite vast resources, including gold, timber, diamonds and uranium, it's among the poorest nations in the world. Lack of good governance does not help.

2. So why all the chaos?

It started as anti-government resentment.

A coalition of rebels named Seleka ousted President Francois Bozize in March, the latest in a series of coups since the nation gained independence.

They accused the President of reneging on a peace deal and demanded that he step down. Months before his ouster, both sides had brokered a deal to form a unity government led by the President.

But that deal fell apart as the rebel coalition pushed its way from the north toward the capital of Bangui, seizing towns along the way.

Rebels infiltrated the capital in March, sending Bozize fleeing to Cameroon.

3. What happened after the President left?

The nation plunged into chaos.

Political turmoil raged. Looters hit the main cities. Violence became the order of the day. Aid agencies warned of a humanitarian crisis as fear of the rebels prevented critically injured patients from going to health facilities. An unknown number of people have been killed in remote rural areas that are too risky to access. More than 400,000 people have been internally displaced, according to the United Nations. That's nearly 10% of the population.

4. Who's in charge of the nation now?

After the President fled, Seleka named its commander, Michel Djotodia, as the new leader. He took over and integrated some of the rebel fighters into the army, analysts say.

5. Was this the nation's first instance of instability?

No.

Political turmoil is nothing new for the Central African Republic.

About a decade ago, Bozize led a coup that deposed his predecessor. Though he later won elections in 2005 and 2011, he did not have full control of the nation. Rebel groups ran amok for years, especially in rural areas.

In fact, four of the nation's five Presidents since independence have been ousted through unconstitutional means.

6. OK, the President left and the rebels got their wish. Why's the fighting ongoing?

Some say greed is a factor. Ousted government officials have long accused Seleka of going after the country's vast minerals.

Then there's the reprisal aspect.

When the President fled, the poorly trained national army didn't stand a chance against the rebels. Rebels capitalized on the army's weakness and went on a rampage, human rights groups say. The list of horrors is endless: rape, torture, kidnappings, looting.

To counter the attacks, vigilante groups formed. Reprisals led to more mayhem. The country descended into anarchy, and the United Nations warned that "the seeds of a genocide are being sown."

7. What role does religion play in the tensions?

Good question.

Rights groups say Seleka is a predominantly Muslim coalition. As history has shown over and over, religious loyalties can breed contempt and escalate conflicts.

In addition, the conflict has exposed years of marginalization and discrimination against the northern, predominantly Muslim population, the United Nations says. Left uncontrolled, militia groups are uniting along religious lines. Most of the vigilante groups fighting back are Christian, leading to fears of sectarian violence.

8. All this is happening a world away. Why should I care?

The Central African Republic is surrounded by countries struggling to emerge from years of conflict. South Sudan, Sudan's Darfur region, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad are barely stable.

Any instability is sure to have ripple effects that'll be hard to ignore worldwide.

The CAR is also believed to be one of Joseph Kony's hideouts. The United States sent special forces to the region last year to help hunt down Kony, the brutal leader of the Lord Resistance Army. In a sign of a potentially expanded role, the Pentagon recently said it's considering sending aircraft to assault the Kony militia.

The chaos not only risks destabilizing the region; it could complicate the Kony mission.

9. What's the current government doing?

The current President has tried to distance himself by disbanding Seleka, Human Rights Watch says. Djotodia, the President, has denied that his country is on the brink of genocide.

"I don't think there's a genocide, there's not even a religious war, all of this is made up, it's to manipulate, to manipulate the opinion of the international community," he told Reuters.

He accused the former regime of fueling the rebellion.

"They want to create a religious war by all means possible," he says. "That's what Bozize wants."

10. What is the international community doing?

Though world leaders have warned of mass atrocities if nothing is done, the response has been limited.

Last month, France pledged to send 1,000 more troops to add to the 400 it already has there. The current troops in the nation, it says, are there in a noncombat mission to protect French nationals and help secure the airport in the capital.

An African Union force is already in the nation. The United Nations has suggested its peacekeeping force should eventually replace the African-led mission known as MISCA. That potential force could number about 6,000 troops and 1,700 police personnel, the U.N. says.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/02/world/africa/central-african-republic-q-and-a/

 

[QueEx]

The Central African Republic
Is Spiraling Toward Genocide

Will the international community respond?

A child holds a machete in Bangui. Religious leaders sought reconciliation between Muslims and
Christians in Central African Republic on Wednesday during a lull in violence. (Emmanuel Braun/Reuters)​

The Atlantic
By David Rohde
December 12, 2013


As South Africans cheered President Barack Obama’s speech at the funeral of Nelson Mandela on Tuesday, a nation of 4.6 million people 2,500 miles north was being torn apart by religious hatred.

Muslim civilians in the Central African Republic, clutching machetes and crude, homemade weapons, prepared to fight off marauding Christians. Christians were forming self-defense militias in other parts of a country the size of Texas, to prevent Muslims from slitting their throats.

“We drove through some villages where every single person has picked up arms,” Peter Bouckaert, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, told me in a telephone interview from the republic on Tuesday. “Children as young as 11 have picked up daggers or have knives or even hunting rifles.”

As world leaders praised Mandela’s legacy of tolerance and reconciliation, the international community was still struggling with how to respond to one of humanity’s most depraved acts—mass killings. Chaos and sectarian killings have steadily spread throughout the Central African Republic since predominantly Muslim Seleka—“Alliance”—rebels ousted the Christian president, Francois Bozize, in March.

Rebel leader Michel Djotodia lost control of his forces, which have carried out atrocities against Christians across the resource-rich, but unstable former French colony. Over time, Christian militias retaliated. Last week shootings, stabbings and lynchings spiraled across the country.

At least 465 people have died since last Thursday, according to the Red Cross. United Nations officials have warned—in unusually blunt terms—that the country contained “the seeds of a genocide.” After failing to halt genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda, the United Nations now faces what the New York Times called a “reckoning” in the Central African Republic.

With the United Nations already carrying out 15 peacekeeping missions worldwide and Western militaries focused on counterterrorism missions, a new approach is unfolding in the Central African Republic. Last week the U.N. Security Council authorized sending 1,600 French peacekeepers to bolster the poorly equipped African Union force of 2,500. The Obama administration has offered $100 million in equipment and assistance.

Wealthy nations are funding a poorly-equipped regional peacekeeping force instead of authorizing more costly United Nations troops. It is still unclear whether the approach will work—but it reflects new political realities in Africa, Europe and the United States.

An increasingly assertive African Union, which has won praise for recent peacekeeping missions in Somalia, said it wanted to deploy forces in the Central African Republic, rather than use U.N. troops.

With the continent now home to several of the fastest-growing economies in the world, African leaders are arguing they can sort out their own problems. Bolstered by economic growth sparked by Chinese investment in the continent, African Union leaders are eager to assert their growing economic and political power and remove all vestiges of Western colonialism.

Given the slow pace and high cost of creating a U.N. force to operate in the landlocked Central African country, American and European diplomats agreed to the joint AU-French intervention. In the United States and Europe, war weariness and fiscal crises have tempered the appetite for costly U.N. interventions.

For years, Western governments demanded the United Nations shrink or eliminate its large, outdated peacekeeping missions in Haiti, Liberia and the Ivory Coast. They also called for the U.N.’s 21,000-troop, $1.5 billion mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to shift to the country’s east. U.N. officials, however, have generally resisted the changes, saying large missions remain necessary.

At the same time, U.S. conservatives have long complained that Washington pays far too much of what they call a bloated U.N. peacekeeping budget. The world body spent $7.5 billion in 2013 on peacekeeping missions. The United States provided 28 percent of this funding—roughly three times the amount paid by each of the next largest contributors, Japan, France, Germany and Britain.

U.N. officials estimated last month that a U.N. peacekeeping force of roughly 6,000 to 9,000 troops would be needed to stabilize the country, largely ruled by autocrats since it gained independence from France in 1960. There were no exact cost estimates, but a similar U.N. mission in South Sudan costs $900 million a year.

Some diplomats at the United Nations speculated that American officials backed the African Union-French force for cost reasons. A senior American official flatly denied this.

“The issue was never one of money,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It was about efficiency. The official said that quickly strengthening the 2,500-strong African Union force already on the ground was the fastest way to halt the killing. Creating a U.N. peacekeeping mission, the official insisted, could take months.

“We have the $40 million in hand,” the official said, referring to State Department funding provided last month, “and we’re moving to disperse it as quickly as possible. The priority is getting equipment for the AU force and also helping get them there.”

In the next few days, U.S. military cargo planes will ferry up to 850 peacekeepers from Burundi to the Central African Republic. The African Union force is slated to grow from 2,500 to 6,000 soldiers in the weeks ahead. American officials say they will back a U.N. force if it becomes clear a larger effort is required.

Whether the AU and French forces will be able to disarm the militias remains uncertain. On Monday night, militia members killed two French soldiers in an ambush in the capital, Bangui. That is a far higher casualty rate than France experienced in Mali—where a total of seven French soldiers have died in an 11-month intervention.

Bouckaert, the Human Rights Watch researcher, predicted a U.N. force will be needed to prevent this from becoming another Rwanda. The African Union forces now trying to disarm militias, he said, are too poorly-equipped.

“There is a pretty threadbare African mission,” Bouckaert said by telephone Tuesday. “The U.S. can do a lot more by providing essential equipment like flak jackets, medical kits and communications equipment.”

Some positive signs have emerged, however, since the French arrived. Despite Americans’ widespread cynicism regarding foreign interventions, killings have slowed in areas where French troops are patrolling.

Yet here are also reasons for skepticism over the long-term. The international community has a long history of overpromising and under-delivering when it comes to protecting civilians in conflict. For decades, peacekeeping missions have been short-staffed. Poorly armed peacekeepers have stood by as mass killings occurred.

Religious, ethnic and racial differences continue to divide nations and spark violence, particularly where endemic poverty is present. The best way to honor Mandela is to stop the Central African Republic’s spiral toward genocide.
​

SOURCE

 

[Greed]

Attack on presidential palace thwarted in Bangui

Attack on presidential palace thwarted in Bangui
By HIPPOLYTE MARBOUA and RUKMINI CALLIMACHI | Associated Press
Thu, Dec 26, 2013

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Assailants armed with heavy weapons attempted late Thursday to attack the presidential palace as well as the residence of the Central African Republic's embattled leader, but were pushed back, officials said.

Reached by telephone, Guy Simplice, spokesman for President Michel Djotodia, said there had been heavy fighting near the seat of government, before the army was able to block the aggressors. Although the attackers could not immediately be identified, for weeks there have been rumors that a Christian militia, believed to be backed by the president, who was ousted by Djotodia in a coup nine months ago, would attempt to seize back power.

The heavy arms fire could be heard from the five-star Hotel Ledger, near the center of town, where international journalists are staying. A rocket came over the hotel's wall, landing on the hotel grounds. As the shooting died down, helicopters could be heard flying overhead.

The events are only the latest indicating that this deeply poor, but until recently relatively stable nation, is tipping into anarchy. Earlier Thursday, international forces were sent to pick up truckloads of decomposing bodies of slain Muslims, whose remains had been left at a local mosque by their friends and relatives, who were too frightened to be seen burying them in a city where Christian-on-Muslim and Muslim-on-Christian attacks have become a daily occurrence.

It also comes a day after the African Union lost six peacekeepers, who were attacked in the Gobongo neighborhood of the capital. Their destroyed car, with at least one calcified body still inside, had not been removed a day later, underscoring how dangerous this chaotic country has become, even for the international forces tasked with pacifying it, said African Union spokesman Eloi Yao.

As the African Union was struggling to secure that crime scene, they discovered another: Close to the presidential palace, peacekeepers discovered a mass grave.

"We found around 20 bodies in a state of decomposition in an area that we call Panthers' Hill. The 20 were scattered in different graves in a small area. You found five bodies in one hole, three in another, two in yet another and so on," said Yao.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is "appalled" by the continuing inter-communal violence, including reports Thursday of dozens more bodies found on the streets of Bangui, and called on the transitional authorities "to rein in those fomenting and perpetrating the violence," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

The U.N. chief welcomed appeals for peace by Christian and Muslim leaders, reiterated that those responsible for atrocities must be held accountable, and expressed sadness at the deaths of the six peacekeepers and a U.N. national staff member, Nesirky said.

The Central African Republic has been plunged into chaos, as the country's Christian majority seeks revenge against the Muslim rebels who seized power in a coup in March. Both Christian and Muslim civilians are now armed, and the foreign troops brought in to try to rein in the violence have been sucked into the conflict, accused of taking sides.

The Chadians, part of an African Union force, are Muslim and are seen by the population as backing the Seleka rebels who toppled the nation's Christian president in March. On the flip side, the 1,600 French troops who were deployed here in the first week of December are accused of backing the nation's Christian majority, and their patrols have come under fire in Muslim neighborhoods.

Caught in the middle are civilians, both Christians and Muslims, who are now bearing the brunt of collective punishment. Militiamen have been seen desecrating the corpses of their victims. An AP journalist saw Christian fighters known as anti-Balaka brandishing the severed penis of one dead man, and the hacked-off foot of another. Unclaimed bodies left to rot were found missing their genitals. Another was missing his nose.

The United Nations estimates that 639,000 people out of a population of 4.5 million have been forced to flee their homes. Altogether 2 million people need humanitarian aid — almost half the country.

The barbarity unleashed on the streets of this capital has surprised many. Although chronically poor, Central African Republic was relatively stable for the 10 years following its second-to-last coup in 2003.That military takeover brought Christian leader Francois Bozize to power. Though he was accused of favoring members of his ethnic group, and marginalizing the nation's Muslim minority, who represent just 15 percent of the population, the country never saw violence on the scale it is witnessing now.

On Wednesday in her home in the Gobongo neighborhood where the peacekeepers were attacked, Elodiane Baalbe spent Christmas hiding underneath her bed, her six children squeezed next to her, in the foot-and-a-half below the mattress. When it finally died down on Thursday, she made a dash for safety, hiding behind houses in her district as she fled her neighborhood.

On her way out she passed the calcified car of a unit of Chadian peacekeepers, the charred body of one soldier still upright in the vehicle inside. The sight was so horrifying that she looked away immediately. "I had my 3-year-old on my back. I looked for a second, and then I kept running," she said.

http://news.yahoo.com/attack-presidential-palace-thwarted-bangui-232810297.html

 

[Greed]

Central African Republic's capital tense as ex-leader heads into exile

Central African Republic's capital tense as ex-leader heads into exile
BY PAUL-MARIN NGOUPANA
BANGUI Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:19am EST

(Reuters) - Gunfire rang out, mosques were attacked and Muslim-owned shops and houses were looted overnight in Central African Republic's capital, and the former president left for exile in Benin after stepping down as part of a drive to restore order.

There were hopes that the change of leadership might provide a fresh start to peace efforts, and violence had eased by daybreak on Saturday.

But the United Nations stepped up flights out for foreigners. Governments of other African countries have evacuated nearly 30,000 of their citizens caught up in the violence.

President Michel Djotodia and Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye quit on Friday under intense international pressure after they failed to halt months of inter-religious violence that has driven a million people, a quarter of the country's population, from their homes.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Bangui, the country's crumbling riverside capital, to celebrate the departure of Djotodia, who was swept to power by mainly Muslim rebels, known as Seleka, last March.

Abuses by Seleka forces had led to the creation of Christian self-defense militia and killings that evoked memories of Rwanda's genocide 20 years ago.

Joy gave way to violence late on Friday and African and French peacekeepers reported overnight clashes between Seleka fighters and the Christian militia in Bangui.

"But I can confirm that a good part of the shooting was warning shots from us to disperse looters who were targeting Muslim homes and shops," an officer in the African peacekeeping mission said, asking not to be named.

The local Red Cross said it had collected three bodies from the streets after violence overnight.

"We don't understand why we keep killing each other, looting and sowing destruction amongst civilians, even after the politicians people wanted out had stepped down," said Ahamat Deliriss, vice president of the Islamic Council.

"Mosques in the Petevo, Yapele and Bimbo neighborhoods were destroyed. It is a shame."

The streets of Bangui were largely quiet on Saturday.

Government sources in both Chad and Benin said Djotodia on Saturday left Chad for Benin, where he will go into exile.

The choice is unsurprising as Djotodia knows Benin. He spent several years there during the last decade of turmoil and has family in the West African nation.

"TIME FOR PAYBACK"

Former colonial power France, which had sought to stay out of the latest crisis in a country where it has often intervened, dispatched hundreds of soldiers last month to bolster a beleaguered African peacekeeping force as killings spiraled.

Yet violence has continued, killing 1,000 in December. French and Chadian troops were among the victims and international pressure mounted on Djotodia to step aside at an emergency summit hosted by neighboring Chad this week.

Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet, the head of Central African Republic's (CAR) transitional assembly (CNT), is officially in charge of the country until the body can select a new leader to guide CAR to elections, which are due later this year.

While Djotodia went into exile, Nguendet and other Central African politicians returned to Bangui where, even with 1,600 French and some 4,000 African peacekeepers on the ground, security is precarious.

The International Organisation for Migration on Saturday began airlifting stranded foreigners out of the country, where 60,000 people from neighboring countries have asked to leave.

Some 27,000 people, mainly from Mali, Senegal, Niger and Chad, have already been evacuated by their governments.

Tensions are running high among those who will remain.

"They (Muslims) killed us, looted and mistreated us. Now it is time for payback," said Igor Moumini, a resident in the Sica 2 neighborhood.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/11/us-centralafrican-idUSBREA0A09Y20140111

 

[Greed]

Conflict-torn C.Africa gets first woman president

Conflict-torn C.Africa gets first woman president
By Cecile Feuillatre and Christian Panika | AFP
Tue, Jan 21, 2014

Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The mayor of the Central African Republic's capital Bangui was chosen as interim president Monday, becoming the first woman to lead the violence-wracked country, as the European Union agreed to send hundreds of troops to help stem the bloodshed.

Catherine Samba-Panza, a businesswoman with a reputation as a fighter who became Bangui mayor last year, was elected in a second-round vote by the transitional parliament. She now faces the enormous task of restoring peace to the chronically unstable country.

Cheers broke out in the assembly as the result was announced, with lawmakers singing the national anthem in celebration.

In her victory speech, Samba-Panza -- who won 75 votes against 53 for Desire Kolingba, the son of a former president -- called for an end to violence by the mostly Muslim Seleka ex-rebels and Christian self-defence militias known as "anti-balaka" (anti-machete).

"I'm launching a resounding appeal to my anti-balaka children who are listening to me: Show your support for my nomination by giving the strong signal of laying down your weapons," said Samba-Panza, who is Christian but did not campaign on a religious platform.

"To my ex-Seleka children who are also listening to me: Lay down your weapons," she said.

"Stop the suffering of the people."

The 59-year-old called herself "the president of all Central Africans, without exclusion", and said her top priority was "to stop people's suffering, to restore security and the authority of the state across the country".

EU foreign ministers meanwhile agreed to send hundreds of troops to the country in a rare joint military mission.

The mission, which will deploy in and around the capital and last up to six months, is expected to involve the rapid deployment of a force numbering anywhere from 400 to 1,000.

The troops will help back up 1,600 French soldiers and the African Union's MISCA force, which currently has 4,400 troops on the ground.

International donors also pledged $496 million (365 million euros) in aid to the country this year.

'CAR is in free-fall'

Samba-Panza's election comes 10 months after the Seleka rebels overthrew the government and installed their leader, Michel Djotodia, as the country's first Muslim president.

But Djotodia proved powerless to control his fighters, and many went on a rampage of killing, rapes and looting targeting the Christian majority.

Some Christian communities responded by forming self-defence militias and attacking Muslims. Rights watchdogs accuse both sides of major abuses, and the United Nations has warned of a potential inter-religious genocide.

Djotodia stood down under international pressure on January 10.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday the Central African Republic is "caught in a crisis of epic proportions".

"The CAR is in free-fall... We must act together, and act now, to pull CAR back from the brink of further atrocities," he said in a statement.

The UN's top human rights body appointed an expert to probe violations in the country, Ivory Coast national Marie-Therese Keita Bocoum, who has previously worked in Burundi and Sudan's Darfur region.

A team of UN investigators who spent nearly two weeks in the CAR last month reported a litany of gross human rights violations, including killings, kidnappings, torture and rape.

"The mission received consistent, credible testimony and photographs supporting allegations that anti-balaka (Christian militias) mutilated Muslim men, women and children, before or after they were killed," said UN human rights chief Navi Pillay.

The violence has uprooted a million people out of a population of 4.6 million, and the UN estimates 2.6 million need urgent humanitarian aid.

Relief workers said they have found at least 73 more bodies of people killed in the north since Friday.

'An absolutely remarkable woman'

Christians and Muslims had previously lived in relative peace in the impoverished country, but it has had a long chain of coups and rebellions since independence in 1960.

Residents of Bangui, where outbreaks of brutal violence still spread fear despite the presence of foreign troops, voiced elation at Samba-Panza's election.

"We're wild with joy because we've been freed, because we've found a new president," said 19-year-old Jean-Franklin Debonheur, one of dozens who took to the street in celebration in the capital's central Miskine district.

"At last we can forget Seleka. I'm happy. It warms my heart to see a woman lead the country," said Diane, 22.

France, the country's former colonial ruler, welcomed Samba-Panza's election and urged her to hold speedy national polls. As interim leader she is tasked with organising general elections by mid-2015, though France is pressing for them to be held this year.

"It now falls to her to assure the needed peace and reconciliation in CAR, with a view to holding democratic elections," said French President Francois Hollande.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called Samba-Panza "an absolutely remarkable woman".

http://news.yahoo.com/eu-readies-military-mission-car-040354188.html

 

[QueEx]

Re: Conflict-torn C.Africa gets first woman president

Conflict-torn C.Africa gets first woman president
By Cecile Feuillatre and Christian Panika | AFP
Tue, Jan 21, 2014

Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The mayor of the Central African Republic's capital Bangui was chosen as interim president Monday, becoming the first woman to lead the violence-wracked country, as the European Union agreed to send hundreds of troops to help stem the bloodshed.

Catherine Samba-Panza, a businesswoman with a reputation as a fighter who became Bangui mayor last year, was elected in a second-round vote by the transitional parliament. She now faces the enormous task of restoring peace to the chronically unstable country.

Interim President of the Central African Republic Catherine Samba-Panza gives a speech in Bangui, Feb. 1, 2014.


FROM: Women on the Rise in African Politics




​

 

[QueEx]

Re: Conflict-torn C.Africa gets first woman president

Tens of thousands of Muslims flee Christian
militias in Central African Republic

<iframe width="480" height="290" scrolling="no" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/c/embed/7fdc2d96-d435-4a90-a623-e553661857ec" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
​

Washington Post
By Sudarsan Raghavan
February 7, 2014


BANGUI, Central African Republic – Tens of thousands of Muslims are fleeing to neighboring countries by plane and truck as Christian militias stage brutal attacks, shattering the social fabric of this war-ravaged nation.

In towns and villages as well as here in the capital, Christian vigilantes wielding machetes have killed scores of Muslims, who are a minority here, and burned and looted their houses and mosques in recent days, according to witnesses, aid agencies and peacekeepers. Tens of thousands of Muslims have fled their homes.

The cycle of chaos is fast becoming one of the worst outbreaks of violence along Muslim-Christian fault lines in recent memory in sub- Saharan Africa, tensions that have also plagued countries such as Nigeria and Sudan.

The brutalities began to escalate when the country’s first Muslim leader, Michel Djotodia, stepped down and went into exile last month. Djotodia, who had seized power in a coup last March, had been under pressure from regional leaders to resign. His departure was meant to bring stability to this poor country, but humanitarian and human rights workers say there is more violence now than at any time since the coup.

“Civilians remain in constant fear for their lives and have been largely left to fend for themselves,” Martine Flokstra, emergency coordinator for the aid agency Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement Friday, adding that the violence had reached “extreme and unprecedented” levels.

On Friday, thousands of Muslims hopped aboard trucks packed with their possessions, protected by soldiers from Chad, and drove out of Bangui, as Christians cheered their departures or tried to loot the trucks as they drove through Christian areas. At least one Muslim man, who fell from a truck, was killed by a mob. Meanwhile, thousands more Muslims huddled at the airport in a crowded hangar, waiting to be evacuated.

“They are killing Muslims with knives,” said Muhammed Salih Yahya, 38, a shopkeeper, making a slitting motion across his throat. He arrived at the airport Wednesday from the western town of Yaloke with his wife and five children. “I built my house over two years, but the Christians destroyed it in minutes. I want to leave.”

Christians have also been victims of violence, targeted by Muslims in this complex communal conflict that U.N. and humanitarian officials fear could implode into genocide. Several hundred thousand Christians remain in crowded, squalid camps, unable or too afraid to return home.

But attacks on Muslims in particular are intensifying, aid workers said.

Djotodia’s departure weakened the former Muslim rebels, known as Seleka, who carried out deadly attacks on Christians after they grabbed power in March, prompting the birth of Christian militias called the anti-balaka, or “anti-machete” in the local Sango language. The armed vigilantes have used the power vacuum to step up assaults on Muslims.
​

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...1adbb2-9032-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html

 

[Greed]

Last Muslims in C.Africa capital pray for escape

Last Muslims in C.Africa capital pray for escape
By Joris Fioriti
April 23, 2014 5:41 PM

Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - 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.

- An endless agony -

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.

- 'Reconciliation impossible' -

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.

http://news.yahoo.com/last-muslims-c-africa-capital-pray-escape-214121760.html

 

[Greed]

C. African Republic prime minister steps down

C. African Republic prime minister steps down
10 hours ago

The president of Central African Republic has fired her prime minister and 20 other members of the transitional government.

The move to replace Prime Minister Andre Nzapayeke on Tuesday came after failed peace talks with rebels.

The transitional government formed back in January is tasked with organizing elections by early next year. After talks with Christian militia fighters and Muslim rebels, the president said she would make her government more inclusive.

There was no immediate announcement on who would replace the prime minister, though there was wide speculation that a Muslim politician could be chosen.

The country has been mired in unprecedented sectarian violence since December 2013 when Christian fighters attacked the capital following a brutal 10-month rule by Muslim rebels.

http://news.yahoo.com/c-african-republic-prime-minister-steps-down-185708264.html