UN READY TO EVACUATE MUSLIMS UNDER THREAT IN CENTRAL AFRICA
“What we don’t want is to stand by and watch people being slaughtered,” United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokeswoman Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday, as Press TV quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
She noted that the anti-balaka militias are in control of main routes to and from the capital Bangui as well as a number of towns and villages in the southwestern part of the CAR.
Lejeune-Kaba added that the militias pose a particular threat to Muslims in the PK12 neighborhood of the capital; the towns of Boda, Carnot and Berberati to the west of Bangui and Bossangoa further north.
“UNHCR stands ready to assist with their evacuation to safer areas within or outside of the country,” she said.
UN staff members were scheduled to go to the town of Bemal in the north on Tuesday to talk about possible relocation of Muslims there.
According to the UN human rights spokeswoman, Cecile Pouilly, at least 60 people have been killed in Bangui since March 22, mainly in a series of clashes between anti-balaka militias and Muslims.
The conflict in the CAR erupted after Christian militias launched coordinated attacks on the mostly Muslim Seleka group, which toppled the government last March.
French and African peacekeeping forces are on the ground in the country, but they have been unable to end the carnage and even in some occasions they have been accused of killing Muslims.
France currently has around 2,000 troops in the country, while the African Union has three times that number.
UNHCR numbers indicate that 637,000 people in total are now displaced inside the CAR, while 82,000 mostly Muslim Central Africans have poured into neighboring countries in the past three months. (T/P04/P03)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
