Central African Republic: " Adjectives of annihilation "

Amnesty International reports

Central African Republic: War crimes and crimes against humanity in Bangui

More than 1,000 people have been killed in violent attacks in Bangui, Central African Republic.

© Amnesty International

War crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in the Central African Republic, Amnesty International said at the close of a two-week mission to the country.

The organization is calling for the rapid deployment of a robust UN peacekeeping force with a clear mandate to protect civilians – and sufficient resources to do so effectively. 

Rapidly deploying a force has been ruled out by the UN, 

A UN peacekeeping force would take at least two or three months to deploy in the Central African Republic (CAR) even if there was a speedy UN security council resolution, Jan Eliasson, the UN deputy secretary general said on Wednesday

Lesley Ann Warner at the Lesley on Africa blog asks the question that should be be on all of our minds.  We have been aware of the situation in CAR for a year now and why has the world failed to get organised for this eventuality.   

“Our in-depth research on the ground in the Central African Republic over the past two weeks has left no room for doubt that war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed by all parties to the conflict,” said Christian Mukosa, Amnesty International’s Central Africa expert.

The situation is out of control and there is no chance the transitional leadership of the country will be able to resolve the problem.

" The rebel-leader-turned-president of Central African Republic has acknowledged that he doesn't have total control over former allies who are accused of killing scores of civilians.

He said even "an angel from the sky" could not solve all his country's problems." 

“Crimes that have been committed include extrajudicial executions, mutilation of bodies, intentional destruction of religious buildings such as mosques, and the forced displacement of massive numbers of people.”

The three-person Amnesty International delegation has documented the violations and abuses that have taken place since violence erupted on 5 December in the capital, Bangui, with an early morning attack by anti-balaka militia.

Anti-balaka militiamen, who were former members of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA), take part in a training session on the outskirts of Bangui on December 17, 2013.

The anti-balaka are reputed to be former member of the CAR military that were displaced when Michel Djotodia the new interim President and his Seleka coalition forces displaced the previous regime in March. Djotodia attempted to dissolve the rebel Seleka bands or at least he claims this but the reality is that they have been terrorising the local christian communities. Inevitably the conflict has now become one of sectarian violence.

" As ragtag as they may appear, they pose the greatest threat to the Muslim ex-rebels now ruling the country since they seized power in the majority Christian country nearly nine months ago. And in interviews with The Associated Press, both the militiamen and a former officers in the national army before the March 2013 coup confirmed they are working together to topple rebel leader-turned-President Michel Djotodia.

"We are revolting so that Djotodia and his fighters leave, and the country can live in peace," said Richard Bejouane, 27, who used to harvest manioc root and peanuts before taking up arms against the rebels known as Seleka earlier this year."

In some neighbourhoods, the anti-balaka forces went door to door and killed approximately 60 Muslim men. The de facto government forces, known as ex-Seleka, retaliated on a larger scale against Christians in the wake of the attack, killing nearly 1,000 men over a two-day period and systematically looting civilian homes. A small number of women and children were also killed.

During the days that followed the initial burst of violence in Bangui, human rights violations and abuses continued at a staggering pace. 

Something that will only get worse as the situation continues to deteriorate.

" The anti-balaka's power base is in and around Bossangoa, the hometown of Francois Bozize, the ousted president. As the movement has grown in strength and numbers, it set its sight on Bangui, the seat of government in the south of the country.

Douze Puissance says he joined the forces of anti-balaka after the Seleka forces attacked his home in April and destroyed his life. His wife and two children 8-year-old daughter Ornela and 10-year-old son Josias were burned alive, he says.

"We want the French to force Djotodia out of office, but if not we will do it with our machetes," he says. "We are farmers, we don't generally get involved in politics. But he sent his men to our villages to kill our families and chase us into the forest."

The anti-balaka movement grew in the aftermath of Seleka attacks on villages across the country's northwest in July and August, said Lewis Mudge, a researcher with Human Rights Watch's Africa division."

The Central African Republic is essentially a christian country 80% with a muslim minority of 15% add in to this equation that the Seleka rebels were supported by mercenaries from Chad and Sudan who seem to have opted to stay on and participate in murder rape and robbery.  I don't think the Djotodia regime can survive. 

Despite the presence of French and African military forces meant to protect the civilian population, civilians are being wilfully killed on a daily basis, with at least 90 additional people killed since 8 December. Some victims have been shot; others have been killed by angry mobs with machetes; others have even been stoned.

There are 1600 French troops with the apparent promise of more from other EC Nations. 

" At a European Union foreign ministers meeting on Monday, France requested more help from allies to bolster its peacekeeping mission beyond logistical and financial aid.

"We will soon have troops on the ground from our European colleagues," Fabius told parliament in response to a question on a lack of European support in Central African Republic."

A very optimistic assessment on the part of the French. 

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Polish Foreign Minister Donald Tusk stopped short of announcing ground troops."In CAR's case we will be ready for limited logistical support in terms of aviation," he said. "A transport aircraft and a group of soldiers, who would take care of it, is something that is within our possibilities," he said.

Belgium's defense ministry said on Friday it was sending tactical aircraft for two months for logistical support that would need 35 soldiers as support. A defense ministry official said Belgium had taken no decision to send any soldiers beyond that, denying a report it would provide 150 soldiers."

There are no where near enough troops at the moment to prevent the situation falling further apart and I doubt that there is much of an apatite in France to send more troops and France's hopes for Poland and Belgium would seem to be misplaced.

The complete absence of justice and accountability for these crimes has led to a downward spiral of revenge killings and to deepening inter-communal hatred and mistrust. In total 614,000 people have been displaced across the country – 189,000 in Bangui alone, a quarter of the city’s population.

“The continuing violence, the extensive destruction of property, and the forced displacement of the population in Bangui are feeding enormous anger, hostility and mistrust,” said Christian Mukosa.

Human Rights Watch has interactive imagery showing war crimes from a satellite's perspective ( Hat Tip Lesley Warner ) .

Above the villages of Bogoro and Bobafio in 2010 from space and below the same villages July 9 2013.

  

Daniel Bekele the Africa director of Human Rights Watch. 

" Seleka leaders promised a new beginning for the people of the Central African Republic, but instead have carried out large-scale attacks on civilians, looting, and murder. What’s worse is that the Seleka have recruited children as young as 13 to carry out some of this carnage."

“There can be no prospect of ending the cycle of violence until the militias are disarmed and there is proper and effective protection for the thousands of civilians at risk in the country. Residential neighbourhoods must be made safe as an urgent priority in order to allow people to go back to their homes and resume their normal lives.”

I doubt that there are anywhere near enough French and African Union troops to disarm the militias the best they can probably hope to do is create safe zones.

Any disarmament process must be accompanied by effective physical protection measures, particularly in crisis hotspots such as the PK5, Miskine and Combattant neighbourhoods. Amnesty International has learned of revenge attacks on those who have been disarmed to date.

One of the most worrying aspects of the current situation is the blurring of lines between organized armed groups and civilian mobs. In many cases it has been difficult to identify those responsible for the killings, but it is clear that many local civilians advocate violent acts of revenge, and some are participating in them. 

Hence the fears of a genocide. Reuters in a piece called the ' Ghost of Rwanda ' reports.

" But waves of massacres and reprisals by Muslim and Christian militias have killed hundreds there since rebels seized power in March, waking the world up to the fact that it might be witnessing the prelude to another Rwanda, where 800,000 were hacked, shot or clubbed to death in 100 days."

Both the Christian and Muslim communities have a deep sense of anger and grievance – many people have shown Amnesty International researchers photos and videos of slaughter that they keep on their mobile phones.

Amnesty International believes that more international troops are urgently needed to ensure security in Bangui and elsewhere in the Central African Republic. 

The UN has left it very late and the French are little more than a stopgap measure until the UN gets organised. 

The African Union has promised to deploy up to 6,000 troops in a new peacekeeping force which is due to take authority in the Central African Republic on 19 December. This deployment is urgently needed but the makeup and deployment plans for the troops have not yet been spelled out.

Amnesty International is also calling on the UN to expedite its plans to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity and gross violations of human rights.

A commission of enquiry is hardly a priority at this point. We need to get boots on the ground and minimise the workload of any future commission.

“It is important to establish responsibility for the crimes that have been committed by all sides in this conflict and ensure an end to decades of impunity that have prevailed in this country,” said Christian Mukosa. The organization has received credible information about militia leaders who are directly implicated in the attacks and should be brought to justice. 

“The international community has an important role to play in the Central African Republic, ensuring peacekeeping forces are deployed with all haste and are given the resources they need to prevent even greater bloodshed.”

The whole operating structure of the UN needs to be examined. Rwanda taught us, or should have, that you don't have three months to get organised in situations like this. In Rwanda 800,000 people died in a space of three months. There is surely an argument for the UN to have a standing ready reaction force that can deploy fast and stabilise situations such as this until a more traditional UN Peacekeeping is available to take over. 

Amnesty International will present its preliminary findings in a briefing at a press conference today in London. It will publish a more in-depth report in early 2014.

Human Rights Watch is publishing a separate report focusing on an escalation of sectarian violence and atrocities in Ouham province in northern Central African Republic.

Lets hope we can short circuit this now. 2014 doesn't need to kick off with a genocide.

CAR: The killing continues while the West whistles.

The UN News Centre reports

UN agencies alarmed as humanitarian situation in Central African Republic deteriorates

                      Refugees from Central African Republic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo: UNHCR/B.Sokol

9 December 2013 – The United Nations says that aid agencies in the Central African Republic (CAR) remain preoccupied by the alarming deterioration of the humanitarian situation, particularly in the capital, Bangui, and in Bossangoa.

This situation was not only predictable but widely predicted, the French have on several occasions said that they were going to intervene but really it is now a case of too little and too late. 

" Yesterday evening, French President François Hollande announced an “immediate” military intervention in the Central African Republic (CAR), a former French colony, after holding a Defense Council meeting with government ministers and the army chief of staff.

Hollande declared that French troop levels in CAR will be doubled “in a few days, if not a few hours.” The announcement came after yesterday’s adoption by the the UN Security Council of a French-sponsored resolution authorizing the deployment of more French and African troops in CAR.

The UN resolution authorises the deployment of an African Union-led force, the International Support Mission in the Central African Republic (MISCA). The resolution also authorises French forces “to take all necessary measures” to support the MISCA."

" UN agencies alarmed.." is the headline of this article, clearly the only UN operation that could actually do something was not alarmed and stuffed about as usual and did bugger all. It really is time for the UN Security Council to be overhauled, it is an outdated well past its used by date anachronism from the cold war.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), nearly 400 people have been killed and hundreds more injured since 5 December, in armed clashes between factions.

Three weeks ago I blogged on this subject saying that the UN need to act immediately going even further with the title quoted from Marillion  " Decriminalise genocide, provided door to door Belsens ". All that happened was a conference in France and a few extra French troops sent in to protect French property and interests. The decision to send an inadequate number of French was on the 5th December. The day that the killings in the CAR seem to have got underway in an organised fashion. 

  

“The death toll is rising, the majority of the population have no access to health facilities because of the insecurity and the bodies are still collected daily in the affected zone,” OCHA said in a news release issued yesterday.

It would be interesting to know how much value the west has nicked from the region from the colonial era until now. It will be a huge figure and one might think that providing the people of the region with a measure of security given the west's total failure there to date, would be not too big an ask.  

The country has been experiencing upheaval since last December when the Séléka rebel coalition launched a series of attacks, culminating in March when President François Bozizé was forced to flee.

Most of the problem's are a result of the failure of the Seleka rebels to disband, having overthrown the admittedly corrupt Bozize regime they appear to have developed a liking for the rebel lifestyle and have now directed their efforts against the civilian ( and it would seem largely christian majority ) population.

A transitional government, headed by Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye, has been entrusted with restoring law and order and paving the way for democratic elections. However, armed clashes in the north-east have increased since August, and the country is facing a dire humanitarian situation in which half of its population of 4.6 million are in need of immediate assistance.

Lesley Warner blogging at Lesley on Africa gives an excellent assessment of the failure of the international community. It was fairly unrealistic to expect the Djotodia regime to bring about stability and the international community has had the best part of a year to get ready for this and failed to do anything I think we can expect the wheels to come off big time fairly soon.

Human Rights Watch on the Seleka regime;

" The Seleka should immediately end its killings and pillage, restore order, and allow access to desperately needed humanitarian assistance, Human Rights Watch said. The Seleka leadership should control its forces, denounce killings by its members and supporters, restore civilian administration throughout the country, and ensure accountability for the crimes committed."

It is hard to see this regime surviving much longer.

“The population has suffered enough,” said the acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator in CAR, Rokhaya Daba Fall. She called on all parties committing acts of violence to respect the protection of civilians and to ensure their security as well as the safety of humanitarian organizations operating to alleviate the suffering of the people affected by the crisis.

Unlimited and unhindered access should be guaranteed to allow organizations to deliver assistance where needed in a neutral and impartial manner, she stressed.

OCHA said that UN agencies and humanitarian partners in CAR have intensified operations to provide shelter, drinking water, sanitation, food security and health to internally displaced people and they are reinforcing civil-military coordination and supporting reconciliation efforts.

It is a shame the Security Council can't pull its finger out, again from Lesley Warner. 

Finally, the UN Security Council is also considering authorizing a peacekeeping mission for CAR, but it would not be able to deploy for at least two to three months – even with a speedy UNSC Resolution. Therefore, the French and AU forces would have to act as a stopgap measure until the UN would be able to put boots on the ground."

Meanwhile, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today voiced her concern over the unfolding events in CAR, particularly reports of serious ongoing crimes.

“The deteriorating security situation over the past several days has contributed to the escalation of unlawful killings, sexual violence, recruitment of child soldiers and other grave crimes, across the country,” Fatou Bensouda said in a statement.

She underscored that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide fall under the subject matter jurisdiction of the ICC, which is based in The Hague. “I hereby call upon all parties involved in the conflict, including former Séléka elements and other militia groups, such as the anti-Balaka, to stop attacking civilians and committing crimes, or risk being investigated and prosecuted by my Office. The victims of such crimes cannot be left unheard.”

I am not holding my breath.

Ms. Bensouda welcomed the international community’s efforts to stabilise the security situation in the country and end the violence, noting in particular the arrival of the African-led and French-backed peacekeepers which the Security Council authorized last week to quell the violence.

She also welcomed the planned international commission of inquiry to investigate reports of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and rights abuses in CAR by all parties since 1 January 2013, saying that the initiative will “galvanise collective efforts to bring perpetrators of serious crimes to justice.”

I would settle for some well armed peacekeepers with a mandate to protect the civilian population and the ability to use lethal force to achieve that end. 

CAR: " And so it goes, around again..."

New Vision ( Uganda ) reports

Troubled CAR arrests rogue ex-rebel commander
BANGUI - Government forces in the troubled Central African Republic have arrested a rogue ex-rebel commander, the justice minister told AFP Friday, as Bangui tries to clamp down on warlords.

Former rebels of the Seleka coalition stand guard on October 8, 2013 in the courtyard if the Catholic church in Bangassou. PHOTO/AFP

Since Michel Djotodia seized power in a March coup, some ex-rebels from his now-dissolved Seleka group have integrated the regular army but others went rogue and have been sowing terror.

Seleka may have been dissolved but its constituent parts have not just disappeared, nor are they likely to.

" Séléka (also called the Séléka CPSK-CPJP-UFDR) is an alliance of militias in the Central African Republic that overthrew the government on March 24, 2013. Séléka leader Michel Djotodia has claimed himself President of the Central African Republic."

"Seven criminals, led by a so-called colonel going by the name of Mahamat Amine and who had emerged from the bush in Damara, were detained by our security and defence forces," Justice Minister Arsene Sende said.

Damara lies around 75 kilometres (45 miles) north of the capital Bangui. The rogue colonel and six of his men were arrested on Wednesday, the minister said.

In effect outside of Bangui " governmental " authority is in the hands of warlords. I don't know how large the Seleka coalition was but it must have been in the thousands and there sure as hell isn't room for them in the armed forces hence the problem of local militias.

On the same day, another ex-Seleka warlord known as "Colonel Abdallah" who had been ruling over the eastern town of Bangassou was arrested together with four of his lieutenants and transferred to Bangui, officials said.

How long until the warlords get half smart and launch a new version of Selika ? Djotodia  is not recognised as the president and it seems unlikely he will be until he wins an election.

" N'DJAMENA, 18 April 2013 (Reuters) -Djotodia led thousands of rebel fighters from the Seleka coalition into the riverside capital of the mineral-rich but chronically unstable country on March 24, overthrowing President Francois Bozize.

African heads of state and Western powers had refused to recognise him as the country's legitimate leader and called for the creation of a transitional council to lead the nation to elections within 18 months.

After a meeting in the Chadian capital N'Djamena on Thursday, Central African heads of state said they had taken note of Djotodia's election last weekend by the transitional council in Bangui acting as a parliament.

"Mr Djotodia will not be called president of the republic, but head of state of the transition," Chadian President Idriss Deby said after the meeting, which included a delegation representing the transition government."
"The chief prosecutor and the main police investigations department are sparing no effort in bringing those criminals to justice," Sende said.

That is no surprise. Justice is however a relative concept in this situation. Do it to them before they do it to you.

The impoverished landlocked country is a little larger than France but sparsely populated and Djotodia is facing the same difficulty as his predecessors in extending his authority beyond the capital.

And so how long will the regime last ? 

Chaos followed the ouster of Francois Bozize earlier this year and reports of summary executions, looting and abuses against civilians have prompted international concern that the Central African Republic could become another Somali-style failed state.

".... international concern ...."  Bullshit, nobody, not even the French give a toss.

CAR : How long will the Regime last ?

Capital FM  ( Kenya ) reports

C. Africa army retreat puts rebels one step from capital 

 

BANGUI, Dec 29 – Rebels in the Central African Republic, defying mediation efforts, on Saturday seized another town in their advance on the capital, forcing an army retreat and putting them just one town away from Bangui.

The rebels, who already have control of four other regional capitals in the centre and north of the country, faced no resistance as they entered the town of Sibut around 150 kilometres from Bangui, a military source told AFP.

 

Officials on both sides said the rebels of the so-called Seleka coalition had also repelled army soldiers trying to recapture Bambari, a former military stronghold in the landlocked country, one of the world’s poorest despite vast mineral wealth.

The Seleka coalition are in effect rebels who had  been integrated into the Central African Republic army and have subsequently left due to perceived grievances with the government. The parallels with the DR Congo / M23 situation are fairly stark.

A military official described “extremely violent” fighting over the town, with detonations and heavy weapons fire audible to witnesses some 60 kilometres away.

The rebel advance on Sibut, also a base for Chadian soldiers stationed in the country, forced government forces and their allies to retreat to Damara, 75 kilometres from Bangui and the last major town on the road to the southwestern capital.

“The rebels entered Sibut. There was no fighting, the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) stationed there and the Chadian troops left the town last night (Friday) for Damara,” the military official told AFP.

The bottom line is that the CAR military are a joke. All real fire power is reserved for the presidential guard.

Djouma Narkoya, a Seleka leader, claimed that the army suffered “losses” in the fighting for Bambari, while the rebel side had “one killed and three injured” in the fighting.

“We are continuing to progress,” he added.

Sibut residents arriving in Bangui said they saw around 60 Chadian and Central African army vehicles converging on Damara late on Friday.

Damara is on the road to Bangui about the half way point from Sibut. It looks like a fairly comprehensive routing. 

One of the towns under the control of the rebels, who launched their offensive in early December, is the garrison town and key diamond mining hub of Biraosince.

Former colonial power France, meanwhile, boosted its military presence to 400 on Friday with the deployment of 150 paratroopers to Bangui airport, and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) announced reinforcements.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault stressed again on Friday that French troops were there only to protect French and European nationals, not fight the rebels.

I don't think the ECCAS forces are going to be to interested in holding back the rebels. Western powers are not going to get involved. The US has some military advisors on the ground assisting Ugandan forces searching out the remnants of the Lords Resistance Army and leader Joseph Kony.

Regional efforts to mediate a peaceful solution in the landlocked equatorial country were at a standstill.

A day after announcing that the rebels and the government had agreed to hold unconditional peace talks and that more regional troops would head to the country, ECCAS said no dates had been set for either move.

The bloc’s foreign ministers will meet again next Thursday “and that is when they will announce a date for the meeting in (the Gabonese capital) Libreville,” ECCAS’s communications director Placide Ibouanga told AFP, referring to talks between rebels and the government.

I wouldn't expect more regional troops to deploy. That leaves Chad.

The coalition of three rebel movements known as Seleka – or the “alliance” in the Sango language – says the government has not fulfilled the terms of peace pacts signed in 2007 and 2001, providing for disarmament and social reintegration for insurgents, including pay.

Central African President Francois Bozize, who took power in a 2003 coup, has twice been elected into office.

Elected is being generous.

Bozize’s appeals for help from France and from the United States to fight the rebels have fallen on deaf ears.

Neighbouring Chad, which has helped Bozize with rebellions in 2010, earlier sent a contingent to the country, however.

Unlike the DR Congo the west has not invested heavily in legitimising the regime electorally if it should fall so be it would seem to be the prevailing attitude.

In Bangui, food prices have soared, further spiking tensions and uncertainty.

“I’m afraid of the rebels coming,” said vegetable vendor Euphrasie Ngotanga in the city’s huge Sambo market. “We’re not going to sell our produce if there’s no peace. And then how we will feed our children?”

“We don’t eat properly anymore,” said another vendor, Angele Bodero, with her baskets full of condiments before her. “Cassava has become more expensive, everything costs more,” she said, referring to the country’s staple food.

A bag of cassava has risen nearly 50 percent from 13,000 CFA francs to 18,000 FCFA ($26 to $32).

“We need peace so we can work and get by,” said elderly vendor Jean Guere, trying to sell the flour sifters he makes himself.

I am guessing that that is for a 100 kg bag and I gather it is not dissimilar to what is being paid in Goma DR Congo.