http://www.trust.org/item/20140710102350-gjk0v?utm_source=MailingList&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Weekly+16+July+2014
Men gesture in front of a burnt
barricade during a protest against French soldiers in Bambari, on May
22, 2014. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Amnesty
International has identified government, militia and rebel leaders from
the Central African Republic (CAR) for their roles in atrocities that
have forced close to a million people in the strife-torn nation to
abandon their homes over the past year.
Ex-Presidents François Bozizé and Michel Djotodia, Christian
militia coordinator Levy Yakété and Muslim rebel commander Noureddine
Adam are among those named in a report that documents crimes perpetrated
across the mineral-rich nation.
“Those responsible for leaving hundreds of thousands of
innocent people with nowhere to hide from their murderous violence must
be given nowhere to hide from justice. Only by ending impunity can the
cycle of violence that has gripped CAR be stemmed,” said Christian
Mukosa, Amnesty’s Central Africa researcher.
Violence in CAR
spiraled after the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted the government of
Bozizé in March 2013, and Seleka leader Djotodia declared himself
president of the majority Christian country.
The Seleka’s time in power was marked by a string of rights
abuses, which spawned militia known as anti-balaka, whose name means
“anti-machete” in the local language, Sangho.
The Seleka stepped down earlier this year under intense
international pressure, but under a weak interim government, violence
continues despite the presence of about 6,000 African Union peacekeepers
and 2,000 French soldiers.
The Amnesty report, “Central African Republic: Time for
Accountability”, calls upon interim President Catherine Samba Panza’s
government to bring offenders to justice with the support of the African
Union and the international community, who have been criticised for not
doing enough to stop the killing spree.
There is a lack of investigation into past atrocities, the
report said, adding that even when arrested, suspects frequently escape
from prison as there are no security guards.
Amnesty pressed for urgent action at local, regional and
international levels to rebuild CAR’s judicial and law enforcement
systems. Evidence of human rights abuses must be preserved, and
witnesses and survivors must be identified and protected, it said.
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS
Amnesty recorded eyewitness testimonies detailing the role
of Seleka rebel commanders Colonel Bishara, Colonel Aba Tom and Colonel
Yussuf Hamad in leading attacks in the capital Bangui.
One witness told Amnesty that Hamad, during a search at a
hospital, “threatened to kill everyone in the hospital if we didn’t show
them the anti-balaka.” One man was taken from the hospital and later
found dead nearby.
The report described anti-balaka commanders Richard
Bejouane, Colonel Dieudonné and Colonel “12 puissance” as so confident
of their impunity that they have talked openly about their role in human
rights abuses and made public statements inciting violence.
More than
920,000 people have left their homes in search of security in ethnically similar strongholds or neighbouring countries.
Amnesty welcomed the Special Investigations Cell set up by
CAR authorities to investigate crimes, as well as the U.N.’s commission
of inquiry into human rights abuses, but said more needs to be done to
ensure accountability.
Amnesty called on authorities to consider creating a hybrid
court of national and international experts to try crimes under
international law and help strengthen the national justice system.
Furthermore, it said Chad and France should not provide safe
haven for suspected offenders, and urged both countries to investigate
allegations and if evidence is sufficient, prosecute or extradite the
suspects to face justice.
For the time being, however, the Seleka and anti-balaka in
the report do remain leaders and will be key players later this month at
a summit in Brazzaville aimed at hammering out a ceasefire, said
Thierry Vircoulon, Central Africa project director for International
Crisis Group think tank.
“As they are needed on the negotiations table, they will be
regarded as legitimate political actors and therefore the time for
accountability is definitely behind or (very) ahead of this summit,”
Vircoulon told Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“In exchange of a possible ceasefire, they will request
government jobs. The main question is to know whether people who are
under targeted sanctions (visa bans) by the U.N. will be invited to
Brazzaville.”
