DOZENS OF CAR MUSLIMS KILLED BY CHRISTIAN MILITIA: AMNESTY

     Bangui, 23 Rabi’ul Awwal 1435/25 January 2014 (MINA) – Dozens of Muslims in the violence-ravaged Central African Republic (CAR) have been killed by Christian militias and need more protection from African and French peacekeepers, according to an international rights group.

    “Muslims are living in fear because they’re constantly being targeted by the anti-balaka Christian militia group,” Donatella Rovera, a senior crisis adviser at Amnesty International, told Anadolu Agency in a Friday interview, quoted by Mi’raj islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

      She said that French troops and African peacekeeping mission MISCA could not sufficiently protect Muslim communities, leaving them vulnerable to attacks by anti-balaka militiamen.

      In a Friday press statement, Amnesty said that more than 50 Muslims had been killed in two separate attacks on villages located northwest of capital Bangui between January 14 and 16.

      “Both attacks were carried out by Christian anti-balaka militias, which now wield effective power in many of the towns and villages northwest of the capital,” the rights group asserted.

      Amnesty said that anti-balaka fighters had stopped a truck transporting people fleeing to Cameroon in the town of Boyali, some 130km northwest of Bangui.

      “The Muslim passengers – eight to ten people in all – were forced to get off the truck, which was then allowed to leave,” the rights watchdog added.

     According to Amnesty, the anti-balaka then used machetes and knives to kill their captives – who included three women and three children – in the street outside a local mosque.

     The second attack, the group said, occurred on January 16 in the town of Bossembele, some 30km north of Boyali, where 25 bodies were found inside a local mosque and another 18 found strewn in nearby streets.

     CAR, a mineral-rich, landlocked country, descended into anarchy in March when Seleka rebels – said to be mostly Muslim – ousted Christian president François Bozize, who had come to power in a 2003 coup.

      For months, the country has been plagued by tit-for-tat sectarian violence between the anti-balaka and former seleka fighters.

      On Thursday, Catherine Samba-Panza, the mayor of Bangui, was sworn in as CAR’s first female president.

     She replaces Michel Djotodia, the country’s first Muslim president since its independence from France in 1960, who stepped down earlier this month due to international and regional pressure.

-Protection-

Rovera, Amnesty’s crisis adviser, called for better protection for the country’s terrorized civilian population.

“The government should disband the anti-balaka Christian militia group and the ex-seleka,” she told AA.

“Then the peacekeepers and national army should patrol neighborhoods to ensure protection of civilians.”

France currently has 1,600 troops stationed in CAR under a UN mandate, while over 4,000 African peacekeepers are also deployed in the country.

“We normally try to protect both Muslim and Christian communities,” MISCA spokesman Sandou Jean-Pierre told AA.

“We have no bias, but sometimes our forces are patrolling on a street and when we leave violence occurs,” he said.

On Thursday, a Christian mob went on a rampage, looting Muslim-owned businesses and homes in the PK13 area near Bangui.

“There are no peacekeepers here at the moment,” an area resident told AA yesterday.

Residents also confirmed that a local mosque had been destroyed by angry Christians.

“I saw a mob taking iron sheets, doorframes and widows from the mosque, while others used pipes to break its walls,” one eyewitness told AA.

And on Wednesday, a mob of angry Christians broke into Bangui’s Ngaragba Prison and killed five ex-seleka soldiers being held there.

Another two Muslims were reportedly killed on Sunday in the streets of the capital, their bodies burnt by a Christian mob.

International humanitarian group Save the Children has confirmed the murder of at least 23 Muslims, including three children, in a Friday attack on a refugee convoy.

In a Sunday statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross said its staff had buried 50 bodies within the past two days. (T/P09/E01).

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

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