ONU enviará fuerzas de paz a la República Centroafricana

Por EDITH M. LEDERER | April 10, 2014 11:39 AM EST | AP


NACIONES UNIDAS (AP) — El Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU aprobó el jueves por unanimidad el envío de 12.000 fuerzas de paz a República Centroafricana, donde ha empeorado la violencia entre cristianos y musulmanes.

Las 10.000 tropas de la ONU y 1.800 policías apoyarán a más de 5.000 soldados de la Unión Africana, pero hasta el 15 de septiembre.

Por separado, una fuerza de 2.000 elementos de Francia desplegados en la nación africana fueron autorizados a "usar toda la fuerza necesaria" para apoyar a la nueva fuerza de la ONU.

La República Centroafricana está en caos desde marzo de 2013, cuando rebeldes de la mayoría musulmana dieron un golpe de estado, arrebataron el poder y lanzaron un régimen brutal.

Cristianos extremistas atacaron bastiones rebeldes en diciembre. Cuando el gobierno se desbarató en enero, milicianos cristianos incrementaron la violencia, obligando a huir a decenas de miles de musulmanes.

La resolución expresa serias preocupaciones por múltiples violaciones a los derechos humanos y a la ley humanitaria cometidas tanto por exmiembros de la alianza rebelde Seleka como por el grupo anti-Balaka, incluidos asesinatos, desapariciones forzadas, arrestos y detenciones arbitrarias, tortura, violación sexual de mujeres y niños, ataques, "en particular pero no limitado a los musulmanes", y ataques a lugares de culto.

La resolución "exige a todas las milicias rebeldes y grupos armados que guarden sus armas, cesen todas las formas de violencia y actividades desestabilizadoras y saquen a los niños de sus filas".

El Consejo de Seguridad quería un mandato enérgico y la resolución autoriza a la nueva fuerza de la ONU a proteger civiles y apoyar el desarme de combatientes y la restauración de la paz y el orden público. Además autoriza a los pacificadores a ayudar a investigar violaciones a los derechos humanos y a la ley humanitaria por grupos armados, incluidos Seleka y el anti-Balaka.

Aunque los pacificadores y policía de la ONU se encargarán de su tarea hasta el 15 de septiembre, la resolución establece de inmediato la misión del organismo internacional, con el nombre de MINUSCA.

Central African Republic's miserable exodus

Intervention by foreign powers has so far done little or nothing to stop violence in the former French colony.

Last modified: 10 Apr 2014 18:04

Barnaby Phillips

Barnaby Phillips has 20 years of experience in television and radio journalism.


The killings continue in the Central African Republic. And what's left of the Muslim community makes desperate efforts to flee from the country.

If you want an idea of how this miserable exodus plays out on the ground, read this powerful report from the LA Times.

So the United Nations Security Council’s approval of a peacekeeping mission, which will take over from the beleaguered African Union force, is welcome news.

But UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon first proposed such a force back in November. I'm told the negotiations in the Security Council were difficult- the Americans were concerned about the cost, and the Russians and Chinese worried about what powers the force would have.

Whoever is to blame, the delay is a tragedy - thousands of lives have been lost in the meantime. And even the UN force, expected to include 10,000 soldiers and some 1,800 policemen, is far too small for the task before it, and is not expected to be deployed until September.

The EU reaction has also been less than glorious.

When the EU agreed to send about 1,000 soldiers in January, to help the French soldiers already on the ground to keep security in and around Bangui, the capital, the idea was that they would be in the CAR by late February. Instead, they are only beginning to arrive now, and it is still not clear where many of the European soldiers will come from.

The last I heard Georgia, which is not even in the EU, was making one of the most generous offers. The Baltic republics also made offers, but, understandably, have been somewhat distracted in recent weeks by a possible threat from a resurgent Russia. But, apart from France, what have we seen from the wealthiest countries in western Europe? Precious little.

In the meantime, Bangui has been all but emptied of Muslims, and the CAR's social fabric has been ripped apart.

One American official said, "It's a complete mess…we could be there for 20 years." He got that right.

The newly arrived peacekeepers are going to face a horrible dilemma: Do they provide escorts to the thousands of Muslims who still want to leave CAR? And, in doing so, will they not be complicit in the final "religious cleansing" of that country? That is the consequence of actions that are too little, and too late. Not that we should need any reminding of that, in the same week that we have been commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.

UNICEF and EU warn of humanitarian crises

Aid agencies urge accelerated action in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Syria as problems deepen.

Last updated: 12 Apr 2014 00:49


The Central African Republic could become another Bosnia. That's what two of the world's leading humanitarian figures have told Al Jazeera.

UNICEF's director Anthony Lake, and the European Union's director of Humanitarian Aid, Kristalina Georgieva, sat down with Al Jazeera's Rosalind Jordan and spoke about the humanitarian crises in the CAR, South Sudan and Syria, and the impact of these conflicts on children.

La misión africana en República Centroafricana declara a la guerrilla cristiana "enemiga"
óscar gutiérrez Madrid 30 MAR 2014 - 20:10 CET




Un miliciano cristiano con un machete entre los dientes, en Bangui. / FRED DUFOUR (AFP)


Utilizan, en muchas ocasiones, eso que en el lenguaje de batalla se llama "hit and run", golpea y a correr. Y eso hace difícil darles caza, más si cabe en los centros urbanos. Además, dice en una conversación reciente Eloi Yao, portavoz de la misión africana en República Centroafricana (MISCA), muchos milicianos "usan escudos humanos, sobre todo, niños y gente vulnerable". Los antibalaka (antimachete), grupos cristianos de autodefensa nacidos en los noventa, se han convertido en el enemigo número uno de la contienda. La muerte el pasado lunes de un soldado congoleño en Boali, a unos 90 kilómetros de Bangui, capital del país, ha colmado la paciencia de la MISCA, que ha declarado "enemigos" a los antibalaka, a los que culpa del ataque, y ha prometido combatirlos. Sus 6.000 militares no hacen prever que la victoria llegue mañana. "Sería ideal", admite Yao, otrora vocero de la misión africana en Somalia, "contar con más tropas".

"A partir de ahora consideramos a los antibalaka enemigos de la MISCA", informó el pasado miércoles el general jefe de la misión, el congoleño Jean Marie Michel Mokoko, "y les trataremos en consecuencia". La declaración de guerra tiene su miga a tenor de que este grupo de autodefensa, formado por cristianos, lleva semanas sembrando el terror entre los focos de población musulmana del país. El porqué tiene un nombre y un apellido: venganza interreligiosa.

"A partir de ahora consideramos a los antibalaka enemigos"

Jean Marie Michel Mokoko, general jefe de la misión africana en la República Centroafricana

Hasta el pasado mes de enero, el presidente del país era Michel Djotodia, aupado en marzo de 2013 en un golpe de Estado ejecutado por los Seleka, rebeldes de origen musulmán, y ayudado por mercenarios de la región -especialmente Chad-. Era la primera vez que un musulmán (solo el 15% de los centroafricanos profesa el islam) tomaba el mando del país, de mayoría cristiana. Los Seleka -en verdad ex Seleka porque Djotodia tuvo la precaución de prohibir la milicia una vez en el poder- hicieron de las suyas con las armas en la mano y contra la población cristiana. En diciembre de 2013, los antibalaka pasaron a la contra y entraron a sangre y fuego en Bangui. Francia reforzó su contingente en la excolonia (cuenta ya con 2.000 soldados) y Djotodia se marchó.

El terror, ahora, corre a cargo de la milicia cristiana, que junto a hombres con uniforme del Ejército ha empujado a golpe de cuchillo y AK-47 a miles de musulmanes de la franja occidental (la cifra de refugiados asciende a 312.000), pero que también siembra el pánico en Bangui, donde una nueva vuelta de tuerca de la violencia ha causado más de 30 muertos desde el pasado 22 de marzo. El campo de desplazados del barrio PK12, al norte del aeropuerto de la capital, es buen ejemplo de que las fuerzas no son suficientes. Según relata la ONG Human Rights Watch (HRW), pese a que tropas francesas y congoleñas estás apostadas a un kilómetro del campo, no son capaces de prevenir los ataques de los antibalaka.

"La amenaza es constante", ha relatado un líder musulmán a HRW desde PK12, "estamos rodeados por los antibalaka y solo tenemos arcos y flechas para defendernos". Según este ciudadano, desde enero han huido del lugar más de 7.000 personas en camiones con destino Chad. Pero la situación ha empeorado y los desplazamientos han tenido que frenarse. Aún quedan 2.400 personas refugiadas en el campo (el número de desplazados internos en el país ronda los 625.000).

Muchos de estos ciudadanos agazapados provienen precisamente de Chad, vecino del norte, por lo que son tropas de este país las encargadas de entrar y sacarlos. Este domingo, soldados chadianos, con la misión de escoltar a un grupo de musulmanes fuera de Bangui, abrieron fuego a su paso por PK12 y causaron la muerte de una decena de civiles, según informaron fuentes gubernamentales citadas por la agencia Reuters. Se desconoce el motivo del ataque.

"La misión [MISCA] necesita apoyo logístico y otro tipo de capacidades", reconoce Eloi Yao. "El país es pequeño en población, pero la tierra es muy vasta, así que hay que adecuar el nivel de fuerza de las tropas para cubrir todo el país". Y eso ahora, con 6.000 africanos y 2.000 franceses, no es posible. Para reforzar el contingente extranjero en el país, la cumbre Unión Europea-África programada para los días 2 y 3 de abril prevé reservar un hueco al conflicto centroafricano, con presencia de la actual presidenta del país y exalcaldesa de Bangui, Catherine Samba-Panza.

Bruselas se ha comprometido a enviar 400 soldados a la zona, pero aún tiene que fijar la estructura logística de apoyo.

La UE lanza la operación en República Centroafricana con un millar de soldados

La ONU trata de evacuar a alrededor de 19.000 musulmanes ante la violencia sectaria
Ó. GUTIÉRREZ Madrid 2 ABR 2014 - 00:28 CET




Hombres portan los féretros de dos hombres asesinados en Bangui. / S. M. (REUTERS)


La Unión Europea ha dado luz verde a la operación militar en República Centroafricana (EUFOR RCA) en medio de una escalada de la violencia sectaria que ha causado solo en los últimos 10 días al menos 60 muertos en Bangui, la capital del país. Precisamente en esa ciudad y en su aeropuerto, Bruselas, tras la decisión tomada este martes por el Consejo europeo, desplegará a un millar de soldados con un doble objetivo: proteger a los civiles y garantizar la llegada de la ayuda humanitaria. La ofensiva lanzada en diciembre por las milicias cristianas contra rebeldes y civiles musulmanes ha llevado a alrededor de 312.000 personas a abandonar el país -con 4,5 millones de habitantes-, mientras otras 625.000 permanecen desplazadas en su interior.

Según la nota difundida por el Consejo europeo, el despliegue será "inmediato". Y más vale a tenor de la alerta lanzada también este martes por Naciones Unidas. La tensión sigue creciendo y la agencia de la ONU para los refugiados (ACNUR) trabaja a la carrera para reubicar a cerca de 19.000 ciudadanos musulmanes, sobre todo de los campos de Bangui, ante la amenaza de los antibalaka, grupos de autodefensa cristianos nacidos en los noventa y armados de venganza tras el golpe de Estado de marzo de 2013 orquestado por los rebeldes musulmanes de Seleka.

El hombre a la cabeza de la asonada, Michel Djotodia, tuvo que abandonar el poder en enero ante la presión internacional y el refuerzo enviado por París. A los mandos de la presidencia está ahora la exalcaldesa de la capital Catherine Samba-Panza

ACNUR, a través de su portavoz, Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba, señala principalmente tres puntos en los que los antibalaka asedian a la población musulmana: el barrio PK12 de Bangui; las ciudades de Boda, Carnot y Berberati, en la franja occidental, y Bossangoa en el norte. La fuerza militar europea prevé apoyar en la medida de los posible a los 2.000 soldados franceses en suelo centroafricano y los 6.000 de la misión africana (MISCA). Unos y otros, sirva de ejemplo de la necesidad de elevar el contingente extranjero, tratan de asegurar los alrededores del aeropuerto de Bangui, donde miles de ciudadanos permanecen desplazados, pero alcanzan a prevenir los ataques de los antibalaka.

La EUFOR RCA, con base en Larissa (Grecia), un mandato inicial de seis meses y un coste de 25,9 millones de euros, estará comandada por el general de división francés Philippe Ponté. España será el segundo contribuyente a la misión con medio centenar de militares, informa LUCÍA ABELLÁN.

Musulmanes toman represalias tras un intento de ataque de cristianos en la ciudad de Dekoua

EFE Bangui 10 ABR 2014 - 02:08 CET


Desplazados piden ayuda desde el aeropuerto de Bangui. / MIGUEL MEDINA (AFP)

Al menos 30 personas han muerto en enfrentamientos entre las milicias cristianas antibalaka y los rebeldes musulmanes de Séléka en la ciudad de Dekoua, en el centro de la República Centroafricana, han informado hoy fuentes de la Presidencia del país. "Los enfrentamientos han sido violentos, según nuestras informaciones, y al menos 30 personas han muerto tras los choques", han explicado las misma fuentes.

Tras un intento de ataque de milicianos antibalaka en la ciudad, hombres armados simpatizantes de los exrebeldes de Séléka "tomaron represalias contra la población", dijo un vecino de Dekoua. La tensión sigue presente en la ciudad, donde las calles permanecen vacías, apuntó.
más información

Guerra a las milicias centroafricanas
La hora de la venganza en la República Centroafricana

Desde la Presidencia, ocupada ahora por Catherine Samba-Panza, exalcaldesa de Bangui, la capital, aseguraron que se ha contactado con fuerzas internacionales desplegadas en el país para que envíen efectivos a la localidad, con la finalidad de evitar "otra crisis".

Tras la dimisión del líder de Séléka y presidente golpista de la República Centroafricana, Michel Djotodia, el pasado enero sus partidarios se han replegado en las regiones del norte del país. Las milicias cristianas antibalaka, dominantes en un país mayoritariamente de esta confesión, comenzaron a enfrentarse a los partidarios de Séléka, de mayoría musulmana, el pasado diciembre.

Los grupos antibalaka han buscado resarcirse de los abusos cometidos por los Séléka en los meses anteriores en el poder, al que accedieron tras llevar a cabo un golpe de Estado en marzo de 2013 con el que desalojaron a François Bozizé.

PARÍS, 10 (EUROPA PRESS)

El presidente de Francia, François Hollande, ha aplaudido la resolución aprobada este jueves por el Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas y que permite el despliegue de una fuerza de paz de 11.800 efectivos en República Centroafricana.

Esta decisión, según Hollande, "demuestra la voluntad de la comunidad de proteger a las poblaciones amenazadas, de permitir el acceso de ayuda humanitaria y de apoyar el restablecimiento de la autoridad del Estado en todo el territorio de República Centroafricana", informa el Eliseo en un comunicado.

El mandatario galo ha destacado que la nueva misión tendrá entre sus "prioridades" contener la violencia, luchar contra la impunidad y apuntalar el actual "proceso de transición", necesario de cara a facilitar la "reconciliación" de la ciudadanía y permitir la vuelta de los desplazados y refugiados.

Francia envió el año pasado tropas a República Centroafricana para tratar de contener los enfrentamientos entre antiguos rebeldes musulmanes y milicianos cristianos. Actualmente, cuenta en su antigua colonia con unos 2.000 soldados.

Hollande ha aprovechado la votación de la ONU para alabar el papel de las tropas francesas, así como de la misión de la Unión Europea y de la Unión Africana. Estos contingentes, ha añadido, "protegen a los civiles frente a las milicias y grupos armados".

(EuropaPress)

http://noticias.lainformacion.com/politica/refugiados/hollande-aplaude-la-aprobacion-de-una-fuerza-de-paz-la-onu-para-la-rca_SuiHVZZhF4vw4wnKql6PK3/

Trapped in a Nightmare

As the Central African Republic falls into barbaric violence between the country's Christians and Muslims,23,000 refugees — traumatized, malnourished and dying — remain stuck in the town of Boda

Starved bodies and emaciated faces are illuminated by rays of light filtering through the planks of the barn. The heat is stifling in this confined space where about a hundred Peuhl tribesmen are staying. Living in the Muslim community, tolerated but not assimilated, these nomadic cattle farmers are forgotten human beings in a landlocked enclave – an additional conflict in a city already beset by violence amid a humanitarian catastrophe.

In Boda, a mining town 200 km west of the Central African Republic’s capital, Bangui, 14,000 Muslims are trapped in a perimeter that boils down to a single street lined by a few houses. Nicknamed “Boda the Beautiful,” the city has been surrounded since January 29, following the departure of ex-Seleka (Muslim) rebels, a group responsible for a coup in March 2013. Driven from Bangui in December by anti-Balaka (anti-machete) militiamen, they withdrew in the cover of darkness to Boda.

Unlike many rural towns where they had sown anarchy, the Seleka’s presence in Boda didn’t make waves. But since their departure, the city has plunged into unprecedented fighting that has drawn battle lines through the area.

The city is totally transformed: a Muslim enclave formed at the center of the city, surrounded by a no man’s land where anti-Balaka and anti-Christians have entrenched themselves. “They all need to leave,” say the anti-Balaka, who are based near a church where thousands of Christians have fled following the destruction of their homes. They number around 500, primarily local youth.



In such a tense situation following months of violence, few are willing to identify themselves fully. Some have wondered if they plan to exploit the situation and take control of the gold and diamond mines owned by Muslims who can no longer reach them. The anti-Balaka claim their only goal is to “make the Muslims leave,” said one. They organize day and night patrols to make sure that the “red line” around the Muslims clustered in Boda isn’t broken.

“Here, the Muslims are businessmen and Christians are workers,” said the head of the gold and diamond trading office in Boda. “In all of Central Africa, the economic actors are Muslim.”

"Manioc [also known as cassava, a type of root] will become the new diamond," said the young Bachir, who resides in Bangui but became trapped in his hometown during a visit with his family before the violence broke out.
Photos: Surrounded by anti-Balaka forces, a slow starvation.


"You know, 75 percent of Muslims want to leave Boda to go to a city within [CAR] where they know they are safe,” said Mahamat Alami, aka Bony, who is sitting on a wooden bench in the Muslim enclave. “I was born a Central African and my parents are Central Africans. I don't want to leave my country. I ask God to protect [French President] Francois Hollande and [the] Sangaris so that they can help us leave. We just want to be free.”

For now, the Peuhl tribespeople holed up in the barn do not yearn for freedom, but simply for access to food. Some have already succumbed to hunger; we may never know precisely how many have starved to death. “I asked the head of the district for a map of the food distribution points. But when I went there, there was nothing for me. My name was not on the list,” said Khadidja, a woman in Boda. For more than a month and a half, neither she nor her large family have eaten a solid meal. “I do not have the proper nutrition to give to my kids. No clothes, no beds.” The mayor of Boda, a Muslim, assures them they will be cared for. His name appears first on the list submitted to the World Food Programme, which thus far has only organized two food distributions.

Both were insufficient and late. ◆

Photos: Surrounded by anti-Balaka forces, a slow starvation



Top: Peuhl children suffering from malnutrition and diarrhea in Boda. Middle: With no way to secure adequate nutrition during the conflict, children are slowly starving to death. Bottom : Forced from their destroyed homes, refugees in Boda are confined to a small area in the center of the city.






Feeling ill, 50-year-old Seidou Baler walked a few dozen meters out of the PK12 enclave outside Bangui. Unable to walk to a pharmacy in his weakened state, he wanted to ask a Christian to purchase medicine for him, but was shot by anti-Balaka just outside the enclave.


French Sangari troops patrol the no man’s land between the Muslim and Christian neighborhoods in Boda.


Ali Ali, 24, was working in a diamond mine in Boda when he was attacked by anti-Balaka. They killed two of his colleagues before turning on him, shooting him in the head and leaving his body in the river. Ali was found injured and brought to Boda.


Displaced Christians in a makeshift camp near the church in Boda.



Boda's gold and diamond mines encourage Muslims to remain in the besieged village. Claiming they were exploited by Muslims, Christians have announced they will now take over the mines.




A doctor and two nurses visit Boda when possible, treating those with injuries. But the most dire concern may be hunger; the last distribution of food occured five weeks ago. The WFP delivered a single week of food (above), but it was uncertain whether they would be able to return.


displaced Muslim woman and child in the PK12 enclave in Bangui.



Photographs by William Daniels/Panos for Al Jazeera America

Words by Amanda Delabre

Produced by Vaughn Wallace

Edited by Mohammed Ademo, Lisa De Bode, Vaughn Wallace

Published on April 11, 2014


About the anti-Balaka
The name anti-Balaka has roots in local defense groups whose members have undergone spiritual initiations (and hence are impervious to balles-AK, Kalashnikov bullets). "Balaka" also means machete in the Gbaya language, spoken in western CAR.

Reconciling Central African Republic’s fraying social relations is key to sustainable peace
April 11, 2014 5:00AM ET
by Louisa Lombard @louisalombard

Last fall, diplomats from the U.S., France and the United Nations used the most powerful weapon in their arsenal of words — “genocide” — to draw attention to conflict in the perennially “forgotten” Central African Republic (CAR). At that point, to call the violence in CAR “ethnic cleansing” was a stretch, and invoking the G-word was a blatantly political ploy. But six months later, the conflict looks a lot more like genocide. What happened, and what can be done?

In March 2013, a rebel coalition called Seleka (“alliance” in Sango, CAR’s lingua franca) overran the capital, Bangui. This motley assortment of men-in-arms from the predominantly Muslim borderlands of CAR, Chad and Sudan’s Darfur region were united only by a desire to take the executive mansion in Bangui and loot along the way. Loot they did. There has been no definitive accounting of the number killed, but the known fatalities from murders and rape by the Seleka number in the hundreds. The new president, Michel Djotodia, a civil servant turned political-military entrepreneur, was powerless to stop the violence and exploitation by Seleka fighters. Soon the rebels began running towns as their personal fiefdoms.

Anger built among CAR’s population, about 80 percent of whom are Christian and animist. The locals considered the Seleka foreigners, because of their religion and their blurry provenance (many work across borders in CAR, Chad and Sudan). Christian militias, calling themselves the anti-Balaka, started forming to protest the injustices. The name anti-Balaka has roots in local defense groups whose members have undergone spiritual initiations (and hence are impervious to balles-AK — Kalashnikov bullets). “Balaka” also means machete in the Gbaya language, spoken in western CAR. But, far from being simple peasant protectors, they also received supplies and funding from politicians Djotodia had ousted, including former President François Bozizé and some of his close associates, who are angling for a return to power.
Religious idiom

Over the course of the fighting, the anti-Balaka began generalizing their grievances to include all Chadians and Sudanese, and even all Muslims, as the enemy. This perception has led to the targeting of semi-nomadic Peuhl pastoralists and traders who have long lived in and traveled through CAR, and the country’s shopkeepers, who are almost all Muslim. It is not entirely surprising that the conflicts today draw on a religious idiom.

Bozizé was the head of an influential church and has politicized religion in a way no other CAR leader had done before, by making it a criterion for whom to trust and award sinecures, as happened in the 1980s with ethnicity. Moreover, Bozizé’s 10-year tenure in the executive mansion owed much to support from Chad, and in return Chadian soldiers and nationals enjoyed near-total impunity on CAR soil.

The anti-Balaka launched a major offensive in December and have since strengthened their positions. The 2,000 French troops and 6,000 African Union peacekeepers arrived in the country as the anti-Balaka were ramping up operations, and they were slow to shift from a Seleka-focused agenda to an anti-Balaka one. The self-proclaimed coordinator of the anti-Balaka, a former parliamentarian and minister of youth and sports under Bozizé, Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona, operates from a fortified hideout in Bangui. The international peacekeepers are now fighting the anti-Balaka to protect the few Muslims still left — who are holed up at two mosques in the city.

Meanwhile, the population suffers. More than 200,000 people have been displaced from Bangui alone. The fighting has disrupted agricultural production in rural areas, and the shopkeepers have all been chased away, leaving many people struggling to secure basic necessities. CAR’s diamond-mining southwestern areas are now the sites of the worst violence outside Bangui. Prior to the conflict, most of those buying and financing diamond mines were Muslims with family roots in both Chad and Sudan. Last year, when the Seleka overran the area, they ruled it capriciously, exacerbating grievances against “foreigners” from Chad and Sudan, who were seen as benefiting from the mining sector. In Boda, for instance, the town is now divided. Muslims are trapped on one side, cut off from vital food supplies and medicines. The anti-Balaka control the roads, so the Muslims cannot leave.




One element of the story of how we got here is the too little, too late character of diplomatic efforts, which have systematically missed opportunities and left peacekeepers on the ground with a workload that has increased rather than decreased. When the Seleka took the capital last year, it was clear that a strong peacekeeping force would be necessary to restore even a minimal level of security. It took nearly half a year, however, before diplomatic actors began to acknowledge the gravity of the situation. French and African Union soldiers began to arrive only at the end of 2013. But the slothful response of the international community cannot alone be blamed for the country’s current predicament. The fraying of Central African social relations, a long-running process that has rapidly accelerated in recent years, has fed the fighting as well.

As militiamen fight to eliminate the remaining Muslims in Bangui (either by killing them or forcing them to flee), religious leaders from CAR — rubbing elbows with diplomats in New York and Brussels — continue to insist their country has a long history of interreligious harmony, and that the current violence is only an aberration. It is true that the country has largely avoided headline-grabbing violence. But the impulse toward useful new collaborations and disinterest in fundamentalist ideologies (people here frequently transgress certain dictates of their religion in order to work with people of other faiths) has been only half the story of Central African social relations. The other half is a story of pervasive, deep mistrust. Since the arrival of Islam and Christianity in the area well over 100 years ago, the processes of political-economic integration that accompanied them entailed new forms of violence. In CAR, the seemingly contradictory impulses of openness and mistrust are fundamentally interwoven.

Over the past several decades, politics in the region has become more militarized. Sudan has been marked by conflict since the 1960s, and Chad’s civil war began in the 1970s. From the 1990s onward, the Democratic Republic of Congo has spawned a variety of rebel movements. At various times, fighters from all these conflicts have made use of CAR’s territories, whether to rob travelers or seek refuge. At the same time, the economic outlook for the vast majority of residents has been on a steady downturn. In this context, the two social threads — flexibility in identity and potential collaborations, and mistrust stemming from a long history of violence — have come to provide fertile ground for political-military entrepreneurship and rebellion. The current fighting in CAR, and the manifestations of hatred that drive it, is the latest, spectacular symptom of these broader trends.

In the short term, it is clear what needs to happen. Even at the usually fractious United Nations there has for some weeks now been widespread agreement that a more muscular peacekeeping mission is needed. Finally, a decision has been made to authorize a U.N. peacekeeping mission, but the force’s expected 10,000 soldiers will not take over from MISCA, the African-led support mission, until September. For the next five months, the French and MISCA troops (minus the 1,200-strong Chadian contingent), bolstered by 800 European Union soldiers, will remain in their beleaguered positions.

In the longer term, creating a sustainable peace will require a process that will reconcile these two stories of Central African social relations. That process should not be minimized as rebuilding trust, nor should it be passed off to religious leaders, as if the religious terms of the fighting define the problem. Rather, the challenge is to build trust for the first time, across Central African society. The immensity and difficulty of that task does not diminish its necessity.

Louisa Lombard is a Ciriacy-Wantrup postdoctoral fellow in the department of geography at the University of California, Berkeley. She first visited CAR in 2003 and has been doing research there since.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera America's editorial policy neither Defensa México Staff opinions.

Central African Republic Crisis: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Published On March 11, 2014 » 149 Views» DOSSIERS


Camerounlink.net – International News Team (INT)
Fanny Nzie

Since the military coup organized by a coalition of predominantly Muslim rebels known as Seleka on the 24th of March 2013 against President Bozizé, the Central African Republic has continued to sink into a humanitarian and security crisis. How did the Central African Republic, a country already classified as the world´s least developed countries, find itself in this apparently, never-ending turmoil? It is no secret that part of this lies in the continuous coups and bad governance she has witnessed since “independence” from her former colonial master, France.

Here is a narrative of the Central African Republic´s ordeal:

C.A.R.´s troubles started on the 13th of August 1960, when it gained its “independence” with two young aides, Abel Goumba and David Dacko, involved in a power struggle. Eventually, with the help of the French, David Dacko took power and Abel Goumba was arrested. Why? I guess David Dacko being the highest bidder, put the interests of his country at stake and probably had more to offer to the French. His seven year term was however cut short as his very own cousin, and army commander, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa, overthrew him via a coup on December 31st 1965. President Bokassa declared himself President for Life in 1972, and named himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire. He then became a terror to the country, grasping all important government posts for himself. This led to an unhappy France carrying out a coup against Bokassa in 1979 and “restoring” Dacko to power. Dacko was regarded by many Central Africans as a puppet of the French and his right to rule was challenged, particularly by Bokassa’s former Prime Minister, Ange-Félix Patassé. Again, his term was cut short as two years later, Dacko was overthrown in a coup by General André Kolingba on the 1st of September 1981. It is believed that Kolingba had the support of local French security officers who are suspected of having acted “without” authorization by France’s then President, H.E. Francois Mitterrand. But I guess the real facts will never be written down in the books of history.

Kolingba, a son of the largest ethnic group of the C.A.R., the Gbaya, ruled with a military junta until 1985. In 1992, and under international pressure, Kolingba was forced to agree to hold free elections in the C.A.R. and Ange-Félix Patassé won the elections becoming the fifth president of the country. Patassé suspected General François Bozizé was involved in a coup attempt against him and so Bozizé fled with loyal troops to Chad. In March 2003, Bozizé launched a surprise attack against Patassé, who was in Niger at the time, thereby succeeding in overthrowing Ange-Félix Patassé. Bozizé ruled for 10 years, until the 24th of March 2013, when the Seleka rebels led by Michel Djotodia took over the presidency and Djotodia auto-proclaimed himself “president of the republic”. Francois Bozizé then fled to Cameroon.

Michel Djotodia became the first Muslim president in a country most of whose population is Christian. After dissolving the Seleka in March 2013, he was unable to respond to the subsequent abuses engaged against the Christian population by the ex-Seleka rebels, who had refused to disband. In response to these reprisal attacks on Christian civilians, a new group of rebels emerged, the Anti-Balaka (“anti-machete” or “anti-sword” in the local Sango and Mandja languages), who initially aimed at defending the Christian population from attacks by the ex Seleka rebels, but later on directed reprisals against Muslim civilians, whom they accused of complicity with ex-Seleka . Following mass atrocities committed by both the ex-Seleka and the Anti-Balaka, the French army seeing the risk of the country spiraling into a genocide by November 2013, appealed to the United Nations Security Council for a peace resolution in the C.A.R.

On the 5th of December 2013 the United Nations Security Council authorized the establishment of the MISCA, The African-led International Support Mission to the Central African Republic (Mission internationale de soutien à la Centrafrique sous conduite africaine), with an aim to stabilize the chaos that arose as a result of the political transition of the new regime and to call for the organization of free elections in the country during a time period of 12 months. Parallel to this, the Sangaris operation led by the French forces was launched and authorized to take all “necessary measures” to support the MISCA. The MISCA was initially led by the African Union and was deployed on December 19th 2013 under the command of General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko (MISCA Command), General Martin Tumenta Chomu (Military Command) and Colonel Patrice Ostangue Bengone (Command of the MISCA Police Component). However, and unfortunately, the resolution included the option to transfer the MISCA to a larger mission under United Nations authority with peacekeeping forces “if the need arose”. And as such, French troops were deployed to Bangui alongside troops from Gabon, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Cameroon and other African countries. Nevertheless, this only led to more bloodshed.

On the 25th of December 2013, the killings of six Chadian MISCA peacekeepers in Bangui by the anti-balaka militia were reported. The militia justified these killings by accusing Chadian MISCA soldiers of complicity with the ex-Seleka and protecting Muslim citizens. On the other hand, some News media, in an attempt to portray the incompetency and dysfunction of the MISCA mission, reported that the Chadian soldiers opened fire on the Burundian contingent in the African MISCA, leading to a response by the Burundian elements and thereby killing Chadian soldiers. The truth I guess shall never be told. Following this incident, Chadian MISCA troops were allegedly deployed to the north, while the rest of the African troops were dispatched to the southern part of the C.A.R. territory to maintain peace.

Under French and international pressure Michel Djotodia was forced to resign on the 10th of January 2014 and the National Transitional Council elected Catherine Samba-Panza as interim president on January 20th 2014, with the hope of restoring peace in C.A.R. This however has led to no avail as now the, anti-balaka militia is bent on wiping out the Central African Republic’s Muslim community. On the 13th of February 2014, Catherine Samba Panza, declared war against the militia, saying the anti-balaka had “lost their sense of mission” and had become “the ones who kill, who pillage, and who are violent”. Since January 2014 the death toll has increased and more troops have been deployed to the C.A.R. to stop the violence.

From this narrative it is therefore clear, that France has always played a major role in the instability of this country. What is in for them in this whole chaos?

Let us do the math. According to the CIA World Factbook, the Central African Republic is reeking of diamonds, uranium, timber, gold, oil and hydropower. From 2002 to 2007, timber accounted for an average of 48% of export receipts and in 2002, diamond exports made up close to 50% of the C.A.R.’s export earnings. Uranium being a key natural resource and a very heavy metal which can be used as an abundant source of concentrated energy is required in most European countries for the generation and supply of electricity. Over 13% of the world’s electricity is generated from uranium in nuclear reactors. France gets three quarters of its electricity from uranium. Since 2001, she has imported all of its uranium from plants across Africa, 30% of which comes from the Niger subsoil. So while France enjoys electricity, local communities around uranium mines in Africa suffer from pollution, unemployment, health issues and sub-standard or non-existent education. To date uranium mining in Niger sustains light in France and darkness in Niger. But are the Niger reserves running dry? Is France desperately looking for new reserves in the C.A.R. after Mali or simply protecting its already established exploitation interests in C.A.R.? It therefore is saddening to know that while she robs us of our natural resources, France also plunges Africa in unending wars, chaos and human life loss.

With the political crisis in C.A.R. slowly getting out of hand, the infiltration of the Boko Haram rebels into the northern Cameroonian territory, the increased killings of Muslims across the Central African Republic and their fleeing to the north of Cameroon for refuge, one can only foresee and fear the spread of a religious war into an already peaceful country. Consequently, political and religious leaders have to start preaching and promoting religious tolerance to the population before Cameroon becomes next in line for a long-term bloodshed.

Thousands of Muslims in the Central African Republic have fled as UN chief warns of 'ethno-religious cleansing'.
Chris Stein Last updated: 29 Apr 2014 06:45

Muslims have been targeted by Christ
ian militias since the fall of the Seleka [Chris Stein/Al Jazeera]

Bangui, Central African Republic - Leave or die.

It's come down to this for the Muslims of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.

Muslims here once lived freely among the Christian majority, running businesses and praying in mosques. Now, many of the city's Muslims have fled, and on Sunday about 1,300 Muslims from Bangui's PK12 neighbourhood were evacuated to safety by peacekeeping forces.

Already one of the world's poorest countries, CAR has seen a wave of upheaval and violence in the past 15 months. The 10-month reign of the Muslim-dominated Seleka rebel group inflamed intercommunal tensions in the country, and spurred the rise of Christian militias called the anti-Balaka.

Once the Seleka was forced out of power in January, the anti-Balaka rampaged, targeting Muslims across the country for their perceived support of the Seleka and its bloody excesses.

At the peak of the violence, mobs hunted down Muslims in mosques or pulled them out of taxis and butchered them in the street. In one incident, a group of soldiers listened to a speech from the newly installed interim president, Catherine Samba-Panza, then lynched a Muslim man and set his body on fire after it was over.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dubbed the bloodshed "ethno-religious cleansing".

CAR faces food crisis

'It's a kind of prison'

In the capital Bangui, the purging will soon be complete.

In PK5, the sole neighbourhood in the capital where Muslims are still safe, more than 1,000 Muslims from across Bangui and surrounding towns huddle around a mosque, weathering near-nightly violence and waiting to escape.

"It's a kind of prison," said Mahamat Babikir, the leader of an organisation representing the displaced Muslims, who call the dirt yard around the PK5 neighbourhood's mosque home. "If you go far from the mosque, you can just be stoned or shot by the anti-Balaka."

While a few business owners hold out hope of staying, most sheltering at the mosque speak only of a desire to flee. Even with French soldiers on patrol and African Union troops stationed at a school across the street, gunfire is a regular occurrence in PK5.

"Everybody wants to leave because of what's happening here," said Fatimata Wade, one of those sheltering at the mosque. "The anti-Balaka, they'll kill Muslims for any reason."

Seleka legacy

The Seleka stormed Bangui in March 2013, kicking out President Francois Bozize, who had himself taken power by force in 2003.

Many of those who ushered the Seleka's President Michel Djotodia into office were from the country's north, or mercenaries from neighbouring Sudan and Chad. Few had any affinity for the country's south.

"If they perceived an area as being… a stronghold of possible opposition to their power, they would just attack that area abusively," said Joanne Mariner, senior crisis response adviser at Amnesty International. "The result of that, obviously, was to create enormous resentment and animus, and that ended up being vented on the Muslim population as a whole."

The toll of that backlash can be seen a few streets away from PK5's Muslim haven, where a gutted mosque and crushed houses stand as testament to anti-Balaka wrath.

It will be difficult to be together with Christians, because some Muslims here, it is difficult for them to forgive.

- Come Haroun, deputy imam

The militiamen who did this still roam the neighbourhood, coldly explaining how they use clubs and grenades to destroy homes, and pilfer roofs and doors for their own houses.

Some of the anti-Balaka characterise the Muslims as foreigners, a reference to the many Muslims of Chadian descent and the use of Arabic in the community, which is not one of CAR's official languages.

"Those who are staying in the mosque, they need only to depart," said Stanislas Nzale, an anti-Balaka. "Even if they were born here, there's no need to stay."

Others speak simply of revenge.

Once a civil servant, Sebastian Wenezoui said he joined the anti-Balaka after Seleka fighters burned his family inside a house. "If they see some Christians passing by, they'll kill them," Wenezoui said of the city's remaining Muslims. "That's why we kill them."

Roots of the carnage

Earlier this month, the UN endorsed what was considered an option of last resort, announcing it would facilitate the evacuation of Muslims from enclaves such as PK5. Nothing of the sort has been done since the Balkan wars in the 1990s, said Tammi Sharpe, the deputy country representative in CAR for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

"Nobody's comfortable about this relocation. Nobody feels that it is an ideal solution, that this the best way forward," Sharpe told Al Jazeera. "It's ripe with all kinds of questions that are going to come up. It's also ripe with all kinds of questions if they stay where they are."

Come Haroun, a deputy of the mosque's imam, said the Muslims can't hang on to PK5 any more. But that doesn't mean they can easily put what happened there behind them.

"It will be difficult to be together with Christians, because some Muslims here, it is difficult for them to forgive," Haroun said. "You can't forgive this kind of situation."
Source:
Al Jazeera

Muslim youths mutilated in CAR
Muslims youths killed and mutilated by Christian militia while on their way to an interfaith football match.
Last updated: 25 May 2014 23:29

More than 2,000 people have been killed in the Central African Republic since the violence started last year [AFP]

At least three Muslim youths were killed and mutilated by a Christian militia in the Central African Republic while on their way to play in a reconciliation football game between the two faiths, organisers and a spokesman for the country's Muslim community said.

"Their sex organs and hearts have been removed," Muslim community spokesman Ousmane Abakar told Reuters news agency on Sunday.

He said the bodies of the boys, from Bangui's mostly Muslim PK5 neighbourhood, had been taken to a mosque in the capital by the community after the attack. Their ages were not known.

Youths in PK5 barricaded the main road in protest, residents said.

The match between Muslim and Christian youths was set up as part of efforts to forge peace between the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels who seized power last year and the rival anti-Bakala Christian militia, after a spiral of intercommunal violence.

Sebastien Wenezoui, a coordinator of the anti-Balaka, condemned the attacks and said 10 youths had been abducted in the incident by a faction of the group from the Boy-Rabe neighbourhood.

"We do not know where the others are," Wenezoui said. "We strongly condemn these acts. While we are currently working towards peace, others continue to kill."

Heavy blow

Lazare Djader, president of Collectif Urgence 236, the association working to reconcile the communities, said months of work to bring the youths together had been dealt a heavy blow.

"Because of these deaths, I have zero morale. Several months of efforts are lost. I'm trying to calm everyone down but they are all very angry right now," Djader said, adding that a non-Muslim youth had also been found killed.

Seleka was forced to relinquish power under international pressure in January and since then, Christian militias known as anti-Balaka have mounted widespread attacks on Muslims.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in the violence in Central African Republic and a million of the country's 4.5m people have been forced from their homes despite the presence of several thousand African peacekeepers and European Union and French troops.

The United Nations has warned that the conflict could spiral into genocide.

CAR armed factions sign ceasefire pact
Representatives of Muslim-majority Seleka sign agreement with Christian groups that aims to end months of violence.
Last updated: 23 Jul 2014 20:04
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Thousands of Muslims have been displaced after attacks by Christian militias [Al Jazeera]

Representatives of the majority-Muslim Seleka have signed a ceasefire agreement with Christian factions to end fighting in the Central African Republic.

The signing of the pact on Wednesday in Brazzaville, the capital of neighboring Republic of Congo, came after heavy pressure from regional mediators, aims to put an end to months of sectarian violence.

It is not clear if the ceasefire will be respected by the fighters in Central African Republic.

Representing the Seleka faction was Mohamed Moussa Dhaffane.

CAR has been gripped by ethnic and religious violence since northern Seleka rebels seized power in the predominantly Christian nation in 2013.

The Seleka left power in January under international pressure and since then anti-balaka Christian militias have targeted Muslims.

Those attacks have largely driven Muslims from the capital Bangui and the west, effectively partitioning the country, whose east is controlled mainly by Seleka.

A civilian transitional government is now tasked with organizing national elections by February.
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Bangui tense despite CAR ceasefire
Fragile peace in the capital after ceasefire halts more than a year of violence.
Last updated: 27 Jul 2014 18:00
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A ceasefire agreement last week between warring rebels in Central African Republic has brought a fragile peace to the capital Bangui, but it remains a deeply divided city.

Violence between Muslim and Christian militias for more than a year has forced thousands to flee their homes.

Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa reports from Bangui, Central African Republic.
Source:
Al Jazeera

War's devastating impact on the CAR
The country, which struggled with violence for months is not getting enough international funding to heal wounds.
Last modified: 30 Jul 2014 23:14
Haru Mutasa
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Haru Mutasa is a South Africa-based correspondent for Al Jazeera English.

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Almost every patient in this children's wing in Bangui is emaciated. They are malnourished… some severely.

Many people don't get to see this - the devastating impact of war in the Central African Republic.

The hospital ward is small and full of patients. A 17-year-old mother coughs as she tries to keep her baby warm with a thin hospital sheet.

She lost her husband during the fighting. You can tell she is traumatised just by looking at her.

She spends most of her time staring outside the door. I wonder what she is thinking, what she saw during the fighting and how she is now a widow at so young an age.

There are babies in here who are desperately malnourished. They are so thin you can see their bones.

Another medical facility doesn’t even have incubators. The premature babies in here can't regulate their body temperatures. The staff are tired but they do everything they can to make the babies comfortable, wrapping them in blankets.

Aid workers say the crisis in the CAR isn't getting enough international attention or funding. Some call it donor fatigue, some say the media is focusing on other crises.

An old woman gets up and shows me her granddaughter sleeping on the bed. She is frighteningly thin and she is wearing an oxygen mask.

The old woman says to me, "I pray god lets her live. I know I have nothing to give her to eat, and she will probably have a difficult life in Bangui, but I want her to live. At least that could mean there is hope for us and my country."

I don’t know how to respond and I look down at the floor nervously.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dsx58_8QBo

CAR president appoints first Muslim PM
Catherine Samba-Panza appoints Mahamat Kamoun as PM of the Central African Republic but Seleka rebels reject the move.
Last updated: 11 Aug 2014 21:33
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The appointment of Kamoun as prime minister has been rejected by Seleka rebels [Reuters]

Catherine Samba-Panza, the interim president of the Central African Republic, has chosen Mahamat Kamoun as the country's first Muslim prime minister.

The appointment of Kamoun, 53, was announced on state radio on Sunday, days after his predecessor stepped down as part of a government reshuffle.

Kamoun is tasked with forming a consensus government and guiding the country to elections next year in a bid to end sectarian violence that has killed thousands of people and displaced around one million.

Samba-Panza took office in January when Seleka leader Michel Djotodia resigned amid an international outcry over abuses by the mostly Muslim rebels after they seized power in March 2013 in the majority Christian country.

The Christian anti-balaka militia then took up arms against them.

Kamoun, an economist, was the cabinet chief for Djotodia during his presidency, but the rebels say he is not a member of Seleka.

Kamoun has served as an adviser to Samba-Panza since Djotodia's resignation, the Reuters news agency reported.

Seleka rejection

Seleka rebels said on Monday they would not take part in a national unity government as they were not consulted about the choice of prime minister and said they may rethink last month's ceasefire deal agreed last month in the capital of neighbouring Congo Republic.

"The transitional head of state did not think to open talks with Seleka and just decided to name a prime minister," General Mohamed Mousa Dhaffane, the group's second vice-president, said in a statement.

When Seleka withdrew from the southern capital Bangui after Djotodia's resignation, tens of thousands of Muslims fled militia reprisals to a northern rebel enclave.

Persistent fighting on the edge of rebel territory has undermined the ceasefire with the anti-balaka militia.

An anti-balaka spokesman said they were happy with Kamoun's nomination and would take part in a unity government.

Speaking on state radio, Kamoun said he would name a cabinet of about 26 members.

It would focus on re-establishing security, improving the humanitarian situation, fostering national reconciliation, relaunching government administration and the economy, and organising elections, he said.

The UN is due to deploy a 12,000-strong peacekeeping mission next month, much of it made up of a 6,000-strong African mission already on the ground.

Last December, France deployed 2,000 peacekeepers to stem the sectarian violence.

Fierce clashes shatter CAR calm
Thousands take part in a peace march, shortly after rival militias clash in a suburb of capital Bangui.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2014 21:34
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The latest clashes come weeks after rival groups signed a truce to end violence [AFP]

Rival vigilante militias in the Central African Republic have clashed with heavy weapons overnight in the capital Bangui, residents say.

The gunfire had subsided by Saturday noon, but the situation remained tense in a northern suburb of Bangui, where the fighting took place.

"It is the anti-balaka, they do not leave us alone," one resident fleeing the clashes in the Boy-Rabe neighbourhood told AFP, referring to the mainly Christian vigilante groups.

The "anti-balaka" (anti-machete) forces were formed following the overthrow of president Francois Bozize by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition in March 2013.

The Seleka carried out a campaign of violence against the majority Christian community in the aftermath of the takeover, prompting the creation of the vigilante militia.

"Since last night, they have engaged in targeted attacks. Locals do not dare to leave. Some residents were injured in the crossfire while trying to flee," the resident said.

An officer with an African Union peacekeeping force said its soldiers had been deployed to the entrances of the troubled suburb.

"There is a tense situation brewing in the neighbourhood of Boy-Rabe," the officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The officer said two people had been killed in what appeared to be a "settling of scores."

Shattered calm

A traditional stronghold of the anti-balaka militia, Boy-Rabe has for months been the scene of numerous clashes between the Christian militia and the Seleka coalition, which held power from March 2013 until January this year, when a power-sharing agreement was signed.

Saturday's violence shattered a sense of calm that had reigned in the capital for a number of weeks, following more than a year of brutal violence, rights abuses and looting.

Shortly after the fighting ended, thousands of people braved the rain in Bangui to take part in a peace march.

Addressing the crowd, transitional President Catherine Samba-Panza said a new government would be formed "in the coming days".

"Even if some people want to persist with atrocities, God will confound them," she said.

Representatives of the Seleka rebel coalition and anti-balaka forces signed a tentative ceasefire in July aimed at ending violence in the country.

Despite the peace accord, tensions remain high in the country, where several Seleka militiamen were killed on Tuesday in a clash with French peacekeepers in the north.

More than 5,000 dead in C. African Republic
In this April 15, 2014 photo, an Anti-Balaka Christian fighter stands on the front of a looted Muslim store in Guen, some 250 kilometers north of Bangui, Central African Republic. As U.N. peacekeepers prepare to go into the Central African Republic to take over a regional mission, the death toll since fighting between Muslims and Christians started in December underscores how the aid is coming too late for thousands of victims.: An Anti-Balaka Christian fighter. AP Photo: Jerome Delay
An Anti-Balaka Christian fighter.
AP 14 hr ago By KRISTA LARSON of Associated Press

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GUEN, Central African Republic (AP) — There are no headstones to mark these graves, no loving words, nothing to tell the world who lies in these two giant pits full of bodies, or why. Yet a handful of village elders are determined that nobody will be forgotten.

These old men, their eyes clouded by cataracts and their ears hacked by machete blades, sit on dirty straw mats at a church and gather the names of the dead from broken survivors. They write each name carefully in Arabic with faded blue ink on lined paper, neatly folded and stored in the pocket of one man's tattered kaftan. The list is four pages long.
AP Investigation: Death Toll Doubled in CAR
AP Investigation: Death Toll Doubled in CAR
16 hr ago Views: 1 AP Online Video

At least 5,186 people have died in Central African Republic since fighting between Muslims and Christians started in December, according to an Associated Press tally gleaned from more than 50 of the hardest-hit communities and the capital, Bangui. That's well more than double the death toll of about 2,000 cited by the United Nations back in April, when it approved a peacekeeping mission. The deaths have mounted steadily since, with no official record.

As the U.N. prepares to go into the Central African Republic next week, the death toll underscores how the aid is coming too late for thousands of victims. The about 2,000 extra troops to boost African forces fall short of the almost 7,000 authorized in April, with the rest expected by early 2015. Yet the conflict has turned out to be far more deadly than it was then, and warnings of potential mass carnage from former colonizer France and from the U.N. itself have gone unheeded.

"The international community said it wanted to put a stop to the genocide that was in the making. But months later, the war has not stopped, " says Joseph Bindoumi, president of the Central African Human Rights League, who collects handwritten testimonies from relatives stapled together with photos of their slain loved ones.

"On the contrary, it has gotten worse. Today, towns that were not under severe threat back in April have become the sites of true disasters."

___

Both life and death often go unrecorded in Central African Republic, a country of about 4.6 million that has long teetered on the edge of anarchy. Nobody knows just how many people have died in the grinding ethnic violence, and even the AP tally is almost certainly a fraction of the real toll.

The AP counted bodies and gathered numbers from dozens of survivors, priests, imams, human rights groups and local Red Cross workers, including those in a vast, remote swath of the west that makes up a third of the country. Many deaths here were not officially counted because the region is still dangerous and can barely be reached in torrential rains. Others were left out by overwhelmed aid workers but registered at mosques and at private Christian funerals.

This April 15, 2014 photo shows bullet impacts inside a looted Muslim store in Guen, some 250 kilometers north of Bangui, Central African Republic. According to an Associated Press tally more than double the death toll, of about 2,000 cited by the United Nations back in April, have died in the Central African Republic since fighting between Muslims and Christians started in December.AP Photo: Jerome Delay

Bullet impacts inside a looted Muslim store.

The U.N. is not recording civilian deaths on its own, unlike in Iraq or Afghanistan, for example. And it took months to gather troops from different countries for the mission, which will take over from regional peacekeeping forces on Sept. 15, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

"Mobilizing troops for peacekeeping mission takes time because it's not like they're waiting in New York for us," Dujarric said Wednesday. "We have to go knock on doors for troops, for equipment, helicopters..."

The conflict started when Muslim rebels captured the capital last March, for the first time since independence from France in 1960. The rebels, known as the Seleka, killed hundreds, possibly thousands of Christians, leaving families to push the bodies of their loved ones to cemeteries in wheelbarrows and carts. Even when Christian militias forced the rebels to withdraw in late January, they killed as they went.

In the tiny Christian village of Nzakoun, where the only sounds after dark are of crickets and the occasional mango dropping on a rooftop, the roar of vehicles woke up 13-year-old Maximin Lassananyant in the dead of night in early February. Soon the gunshots rang out. The Seleka had come.

The rebels set ablaze more than two dozen houses. Then they went door-to-door, killing villagers and stealing everything they hadn't destroyed.

Maximin stumbled out of the hut where he slept with his mother and two siblings into the darkness, with only the moon to light his path. He hid for two days in the bush, petrified. He prayed that his family was just hiding someplace else.

Then the other survivors from the village found him. They told him it was time to come home and bury his family. The stones of his home still reeked of blood, caked on the ground and the walls inside.

Now it is only Maximin and his father, a traumatized man of few words, who remain, along with another brother who was away that fateful night. The boy's hands shake as he tries to write down the names of his family. He cannot bring himself to say them aloud.

A village chief has hand-printed the names of 22 buried victims on a weathered piece of paper from a classroom notebook. Maximin's mother, Rachel, is No. 11 on the list of females, and his 5-year-old sister Fani is No. 13. His 7-year-old brother Boris is on the list of males. A separate list details the homes destroyed, the people missing.

In this April 15, 2014 photo, the main road in Guen, some 250 kilometers north of Bangui, Central African Republic, remains empty. Earlier in the month, Christian fighters stormed a house in town where dozens of Muslim men and boys had sought refuge. A few escaped. The rest were herded at gunpoint to a shady lawn beneath two large mango tree and shot, 43, one by one.AP Photo: Jerome Delay

The main road in Guen.

The sound of an unknown vehicle passing in Nzakoun still sends families fleeing back into the forest.

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It was only a matter of time — sometimes just hours — before the Christians took revenge.

The mounting hatred was fuelled in part by economic resentment. Muslims make up about 15 percent of the population, compared to Christians at 50 percent, yet Muslims ran the merchant class and the lucrative diamond business. As Christian militias took back control of town after town, they unleashed a violence believed to have left several thousands dead, mostly Muslims.

Soon after dawn one morning, Christian fighters stormed the outskirts of Guen, a town with a sizeable Muslim population because of the diamond mining nearby. They attacked the brick homes of Muslims, identifiable by fences traditionally put up all around them, and killed men in front of their children.

"We have suffered under the Seleka and now it is your turn," they screamed at the Muslims.

Within hours, 23 people were dead.

Several days later, the Christian fighters stormed a house in town where dozens of Muslim men and boys had sought refuge. A few escaped. The rest were herded at gunpoint to a shady lawn beneath two large mango trees, recalls a survivor.

Here the terrified victims were ordered to lie on their stomachs. Then the militia leader, armed with a Kalashnikov rifle, began shooting them, one by one. He ordered his fighters to finish off the wounded with machete blows to the head.

In the end, 43 people were slain under the mango trees, including two 11-year-old boys.

A 10-year-old and a 13-year-old survived only by lying still amid the bloody corpses until darkness fell. Then they ran for their lives to a nearby town, according to other survivors, including the mother of one of the boys.

The lives of three Muslims in town were spared: They were the ones who transported the bludgeoned bodies to two mass graves on a wooden stretcher, still stained with blood months later.

A villager named Abakar lost four of his sons that day, all between the ages of 11 and 16. The thought of his boys awaiting certain death has him sobbing so hard he cannot speak. Even now he will only give his first name because he is so afraid that the militants will hunt him down.

"Each night before I go to sleep I pray to God that I don't have nightmares about that day," he chokes out between his sobs.

Two community leaders — both Christians — pleaded for the lives of the boys and men that day in Guen. They were told they too would be slain if they did not leave. They could not eat or sleep for days. "What more could we do?" they now say to each other, over and over.

Edmond Beina, the local leader of a Christian militia, is unrepentant. Everyone killed that day was a Seleka Muslim rebel, he says. Even the children.

In this March 5, 2014, photo, Boda resident Bashir Bebe stands near where a dozen Muslims were buried in the town of Boda, Central Africa Republic. More than 5,000 people have died in sectarian violence in the Central African Republic since December, according to an Associated Press tally.AP Photo: Krista Larson

Boda resident Bashir Bebe near where a dozen Muslims were buried.

Today, pages from holy Qurans blow through the grass at the house where the boys tried to hide. They are the only reminder of those who died.

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The violence is now bubbling up in previously stable corners, hitting both Christians and Muslims. In Bambari, northeast of the capital, at least 149 people were killed in June and July alone, according to witnesses, including about 17 Christians sheltering at a Catholic church compound. And in the Mbres area in the north, Muslim rebels left at least 34 people dead in August.

About 20,000 Muslims are trapped in isolated communities across the nation, despite a mass exodus earlier this year, according to a U.N. report in August. Among them is Saidou Bouba, who waits outside the mayor's office in the town of Boda.

Bouba had spent his entire life in this diamond town south of the capital. But when the Christian militia fighters burned his house down in early February, the 46-year-old herder knew it was time to leave.

So he and his family joined a group of 34 Muslim refugees heading for Cameroon. They took with them all their savings — some 300 cattle — to start a new life.

About 37 miles outside town, they stopped to rest beneath a tree. There, a group of heavily armed men on foot, wearing traditional Muslim clothing, opened fire on the crowd.

Bouba shouted in disbelief: "Why are you trying to harm your fellow Muslims?"

But they were not Muslims. They were Christian fighters wearing the clothes of their last victims. "Lie down, dogs!" the men shouted.

The last thing Bouba remembers is being knocked unconscious with a machete blow to the head.

When he awoke, he was surrounded by the bodies of his two wives and five children. Mama and Abdoulaye, both just 3 years old, Nafissa and Rassida, 6, and Mariam, 8, were all dead, their tiny heads bashed in with machetes.

Only Bouba and one other man survived. They sat among the 32 bodies for an entire day in shock before making their way back to town.

"I put everything now in the hands of God," he says softly, his face and head still scarred by machete wounds from that awful day. "He gave my family to me and then he took them away."

There are grieving fathers everywhere in this tiny enclave: Abakar Hissein has lost two sons, both shot to death, Ahmat earlier this year in Bangui and Ali on Aug. 20 in Boda. Hissein carried Ali's body back in his own arms. His wife has been missing for five months — he thinks she has made it to neighboring Chad — and does not know yet another son is dead.

Even in death, there is no peace for the victims.

Earlier this summer, a Muslim man was buried at a cemetery in Boda, just a mile away from the zone where Muslims are barricaded.

In this Feb. 27, 2014, photo, survivor Maximin Lassananyant, 13, right, sits with his father and other relatives in the village of Nzakoun, Central African Republic. Lassananyant said that he ran for his life the night Muslim rebels attacked the village of Nzakoun on Feb. 3. His mother, brother and sister were among the 23 dead while he survived by hiding in the countryside until the rebels left. His father, looks on at left.AP Photo: Krista Larson

Survivor Maximin Lassananyant, 13, right, sits with his father and other relatives in the village of Nzakoun.

Later that evening, after the sun set, his body was dug up from the ground and set on fire.

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Associated Press writer Steve Niko in Boda, Central African Republic and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.