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US envoy: Almost every CAR mosque destroyed in war

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US ambassador to UN Samantha Power calls devastation in Central African Republic “kind of crazy, chilling” after visit.

Nearly one million of Central African Republic's 4.5 million residents have been displaced [Getty]

Nearly one million of Central African Republic’s 4.5 million residents have been displaced [Getty]

by Al Jazeera

Almost all of the 436 mosques in the Central African Republic have been destroyed by months of vicious fighting between Christians and Muslims, the US ambassador to the United Nations said.

Samantha Power spoke to reporters on Tuesday after a Security Council visit last week to the country, calling the devastation “kind of crazy, chilling”.

She expressed concern about an upcoming possible security vacuum as European Union and French forces pull out and a UN peacekeeping force is still not at full strength.

At least 5,000 people have been killed since Central African Republic exploded into unprecedented violence in December 2013.

Nearly one million of the country’s 4.5 million residents have been displaced. Many of those who have fled are Muslim.

Power said 417 of the country’s mosques have been destroyed. She visited the one remaining Muslim neighbourhood in the capital, Bangui, and described the residents as “a terrified population”.

Some Muslim women, afraid of leaving the community while wearing their veils, are choosing to give birth in their homes instead of hospitals, the ambassador said.

UN peacekeepers, French forces and a European Union military operation have tried to calm the violence.

But Power said the last of the EU force of about 750 troops left the Central African Republic over the weekend, shortly after the Security Council visit.

“That’s a big drop-off in capability,” she said. Meanwhile, the French forces have announced a “substantial drawdown” by the end of this year. France had sent 2,000 troops to its former colony.

The UN peacekeeping force remains at about 80 percent of its planned strength of about 10,000, Power said.

The UN secretary-general last month asked for more than 1,000 additional peacekeepers, and Power said the council is “very favorably disposed” to the request.

She said the combined forces have “averted a worst-case scenario,” but the country’s roving armed groups remain armed.

The ambassador called that a deep cause for concern and said disarmament is a “huge priority”.

UN: Muslims ethnically cleansed in CAR

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UN report says Christian militias engaged in ethnic cleansing of Muslims in ongoing Central African Republic civil war.

The final report of the inquiry said up to 6,000 people had been killed [EPA]

The final report of the inquiry said up to 6,000 people had been killed [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Christian militias in Central African Republic have carried out ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population during the country’s ongoing civil war, but there is no proof there was genocidal intent, a United Nations commission of inquiry has said.

“Thousands of people died as a result of the conflict. Human rights violations and abuses were committed by all parties. The Seleka coalition and the anti-balaka are also responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the inquiry said on Thursday.

“Although the commission cannot conclude that there was genocide, ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population by the anti-balaka constitutes a crime against humanity,” the report said.

The final report of the inquiry, which was submitted to the UN Security Council on December 19, said up to 6,000 people had been killed though it “considers that such estimates fail to capture the full magnitude of the killings that occurred”.

The mostly Christian or animist “anti-balaka” militia took up arms in 2013 in response to months of looting and killing by mostly Muslim Seleka rebels who had toppled President Francois Bozize and seized power in March the same year.

The UN Security Council established the commission of inquiry in December 2013.

Preventing violence

In September 2014, the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into allegations of murder, rape and the recruiting of child soldiers in the Central African Republic.

Some 5,600 African Union peacekeepers, deployed in December 2013, and about 2,000 French troops have struggled to stem the violence in the impoverished landlocked country of 4.6 million people.

The United Nations took over the African Union peacekeeping mission in September and is mandated by the Security Council to double its size to nearly 12,000 troops and police.

The UN commission of inquiry said the deployment of the African Union peacekeepers, French troops and then the UN peacekeeping mission (MINUSCA) had “been primarily responsible for the prevention of an even greater explosion of violence”.

Report: Uprooted Muslims trapped in CAR

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Human Rights Watch says hundreds are trapped and living in deplorable conditions in enclaves after fleeing violence.

CAR-Muslims

by Al Jazeera

Hundreds of Muslims are “trapped” and living in “deplorable conditions” in enclaves in western parts of the Central African Republic, Human Rights Watch has said.

The international rights organisation said in a damning report released on Monday, that displaced Muslim residents, forced to escape the conflict in other parts of CAR over the past 12 months, were now trapped in camps in the western half of the country, living in abysmal conditions and under constant duress.

“Those trapped in some of the enclaves face a grim choice: leave and face possible attack from anti-balaka fighters, or stay and die from hunger and disease,” Lewis Mudge, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in the report.

“While there are good reasons to ensure that the country’s Muslim population does not diminish further, under the current circumstances, the government’s policy of no evacuations is absolutely indefensible.”

HRW said that both the interim government and the United Nations peacekeepers were failing to provide adequate security but were also blocking the displaced from fleeing abroad.

Muslim civilians were forced to flee after brutal attacks by Christian anti-balaka militia in late 2013 and early 2014.

Those who were not able to reach Cameroon or Chad became trapped in the enclaves, where they have spent months living in difficult conditions. Others made the journey across the Oubangi River into the Democratic Republic of Congo.

UN officials together with African Union (AU) MISCA and French Sangaris peacekeepers supported evacuations in late 2013 and early 2014.

In April, UN humanitarian agencies finally managed to evacuate besieged Muslims from the PK12 district in the capital Bangui. The country’s transitional government said the evacuation had not been approved and opposed any further evacuations without their consent.

HRW’s report comes as fresh clashes erupted in the country.

Fresh Clashes 

At least 20 people were killed and dozens injured in a series of clashes between armed groups, authorities said on Monday.

An official who spoke to AFP news agency on Monday on condition of anonymity said the violence broke out on Friday.

He said that anti-balaka fighters launched an attack against former fighters of the largely Muslim Seleka alliance in the central region of Bambari.

At least 12 people were killed in that attack,” the official said. He said ex-Seleka rebels and armed Peul herders – also known as the Fulani – launched a reprisal attack on Saturday on the village of Kouango, 90km south, killing at least eight people, injuring dozens and setting several homes on fire.

Last week 28 people were killed in clashes in Mbres, just days after a reconciliation ceremony organised by the UN peacekeeping mission there.

The former French colony has suffered numerous coups and bouts of instability since independence in 1960, but the March 2013 toppling of Francois Bozize’s regime by the Seleka rebel coalition triggered the worst upheaval to date.

Relentless attacks by the Muslim-led rebels on the majority Christian population spurred the formation of vigilante groups, who in turn began exacting revenge on Muslim civilians, driving them out of most parts of the country.

Several thousand people were killed in the tit-for-tat attacks, which plunged the population of 4.8 million into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

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