By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa
BANGUI, Central African Republic — UN Chief Ban Ki-moon says the Central African Republic (CAR) has suffered a “total breakdown of law and order” since rebels have seized power in March. It has been more than four months after rebels groups united to oust longtime president Franzois Bozize.
Michel Djotodia, the Seleka rebel leader, ousted president Franzois Bozize in March.
The Seleka rebels, also known as the “alliance,” make the law in CAR where coups and violent seizures of power have outnumbered fair elections four to one since independence.
Ki-moon has urged the UN Security Council to consider sanctions or to set up a panel of experts to monitor the situation.
A panel of UN observers have found that “the rule of law is almost non-existent” in CAR , the Fides News Service reports. The UN team have expressed concerns about “reports of killings, torture, arbitrary detention, violence against women, forced disappearances, acts of popular justice, as well as the general climate of insecurity and the absence of the rule of law established in the past 5 months.”
Church leaders in CAR have repeatedly warned others of the breakdown of law in CAR.
Armed groups in CAR have forced thousands to flee and pushed government and medical services close to collapse after these four months since rebels have seized the capital.
The UN and European Union humanitarianism chiefs told Reuters that “The country is in the grip of a humanitarian emergency while the international community looks on with indifference.”
In a report that UN Security Council will discuss on Wednesday, it stated that rebel infighting has led to widespread abuses. “They included arbitrary arrests and detention, sexual violence against women and children, torture, rape, targeted killings, recruitment of child soldiers and attacks, committed by uncontrolled Seleka elements and unidentified armed groups throughout the country,” the report said.
1.6 million people are now in urgent need of assistance including protection, food, water, health care, and shelter.
Mr. Ki-moon also said, “I call on the Security Council to consider appropriate options, including the adoption of sanctions or the establishment of a panel of experts, to ensure there is no impunity for perpetrators of gross human rights violations.”
In April, regional states agreed to send 2,000 peacekeepers to bolster a 500 strong multinational force that has been battling to help CAR government restore stability.
Although CAR has large deposits of minerals, including gold and diamonds, it still is an unstable and poor country.
For more information, please see:
msn news — Chaos in Central African Republic – 10 August 2013
Taipei Times — Central African Republic is ruled by chaos and living in crisis – 10 August 2013
Reuters — Central African Republic in chaos, abandoned: MSF – 9 July 2013
BBC News — Central African Republic in chaos, says UN chief Ban Ki-moon – 9 August 2013
CatholicCulture.org — Central African Republic in chaos, UN team finds – 7 August 2013
American Renaissance — Violent and Chaotic, Central African Republic Lurches Toward a Crisis – 7 August 2013
The New York Times – Violent and Chaotic, Central African Republic Lurches Toward a Crisis – 6 August 2013
