Genocide Watch wrote:
Genocide Warning: Central African Republic
04 April 2013
By Katelyn Nawoyski
The political background for the current crisis in the Central
African Republic is described in Genocide Watch’s Country Report
of 2012. The Central African Republic was part of French
Equatorial Africa and became independent in 1960. French
authorities gave preference in education to ethnic groups near
Bangui, the capital.
This created an elite among the Southern Riverine peoples –
including the Ngbaka,, Yakoma and Ubang. This elite dominated
ruling positions in the CAR until 1996 even though northern and
central ethnic groups are more populous, creating resentment among
northern and central groups.
In 1996, Ange-Félix Patassé – from a northern ethnic group, the
Kaba – was elected President. He was re-elected in 1999. The
Yakoma, from the old ruling elite, rebelled. The United Nations
Mission in the Central African Republic – called MINURCA –
attempted to oversee “peace accords” between the Yakama and
Patassé’s Kaba. But despite the UN’s good intentions, MINURCA
lacked all three conditions for a successful UN Peace Keeping
Operation (PKO):
- There must be a peace to keep.
- The PKO must have the Mandate and the material means to
enforce it.
- The PKO must be backed by the UN’s political will to support
the PKO financially, with enough well-trained personnel to enforce
the peace, and with robust Rules of Engagement.
After a failed coup attempt in May 2001, the Immigration and
Refugee Board of Canada reported government sponsored reprisal
arrests and killings of Yakoma in Bangui. Many Yakoma were forced
to flee to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to escape the
killings.
A bloodless coup ensued in March 2003 when François Bozizé took
power. Bozizé was then elected in May 2005. Two groups of rebels –
one based in the northeast (called the Seleka Coalition) and one
based in the northwest near the border with Sudan and Chad –
organized to oust Bozizé.
According to the United States Institute of Peace fighting in the
northwest displaced over 270,000 people over one-quarter of the
northwest region’s population of one million people.
Seleka forces entered Bangui and took the Presidential Palace on
March 24, 2013, forcing President Bozizé to flee the
country. Seleka’s leader – Michel Djotodia – declared himself
President.
Djotodia announced he would also be Minister of Defense. The US
State Department expressed concern at the undemocratic nature of
the coup d’état.
The Red Cross reported on April 1, 2013, that 78 bodies had been
found during the week after Djotodia came to power, and The
Guardian reported that Djotodia used child soldiers who were
killed during the coup.
The Guardian documented first-hand accounts from eyewitnesses that
Seleka child soldiers appeared to be drugged, and some were crying
for their mothers before they were killed. Use of child soldiers
is a war crime. South Africa – which had sent 298 soldiers to aid
Bozizé’s government – lost thirteen men. The UN Security Council
condemned Djotodia’s coup. The African Union sanctioned Seleka
leaders and suspended the CAR’s participation in the African
Union.
Genocide Watch has issued a Genocide Alert for the Central African
Republic. Genocide Watch recommends that the follow actions be
taken immediately:
- The Central African Republic is a state-party to the Rome Treaty
of the International Criminal Court. If Seleka leaders used child
soldiers, they should be charged and tried by the ICC.
- The Central African Republic should not be re-admitted into the
African Union until it holds free and fair elections for public
officials.
- Uganda has withdrawn its forces from the Central African Republic
in the hunt for Joseph Kony, who is believed to be hiding in the
CAR. The UN should demand that the CAR cooperate fully in Kony’s
capture for trial by the International Criminal Court.
http://www.genocidewatch.org/centralafr ... ublic.html