Violence Forces Muslim Population Out of CAR

By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa

BANGUI, Central African Republic – Religious violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) could force its entire Muslim population to flee, a senior human rights worker has told BBC.

A woman on the truck fleeing CAR attacked by looters before the last checkpoint (photo courtesy of AP).

Human Rights Watch (HRW) emergency director Peter Bouckaert said this could affect the economy, as Muslims control the livestock market and other businesses.

HRW has called for a UN peacekeeping mission as Muslims are dying by the thousands and many are fleeing.

“We are in a moment where immediate action is needed to stop the killings,” Bouckaert said, calling for a full-fledged UN peacekeeping mission. “Otherwise the future of the Muslim community of this country will be gone.”

The violence has reached an intolerable level. Many of the Muslim population have fled to Chad or Cameroon.

Muslims make up about 15% of CAR’s 4.6 million people. More than 800,000 people have fled their homes – about half of those from the capital, according to the UN.

“There are some who don’t want Muslims in this country,” Prime Minister Andre Nzapayeke said on the local radio on Saturday. “But when the Muslims have left the country, what happens next? The Protestants will throw out the Catholics, and then the Baptists against the Evangelists, and finally the animists? It is time we regain control and stop ourselves from plunging into an abyss.”

Bouckaert has said that at least 10 people had died this past week in the capital.

He said he had personally witnessed a Muslim being hacked to death in Bangui, in retaliation for the reported killing of 6 people by Muslim fighters.

Thousands of Muslims left Bangui in a massive convoy on Friday that was jeered by crowds of Christians. One Muslim who fell off of a truck was quickly killed by the mob.

Muslim people who could not get on the trucks tried to hand their children to strangers aboard the vehicles.

Whole neighborhoods are abandoned and Muslims who cannot leave are hiding inside mosques that have not already been set ablaze or destroyed by angry crowds.

Entire Muslim communities also have left towns in the rural northwest, sometimes only to come under attack from Christian militiamen and die while trying to get out of the anarchic country.

No one knows the true death toll from the two months of the worst inter-communal violence in this country’s history. It is often too dangerous for crews to recover the corpses.

More than 1,000 people were killed during several days of fighting in early December, when a Christian militia attempted to overthrow the Muslim rebel government then in power.

For more information, please visit:
BBC News – Violence could force out CAR’s Muslim population – HRW – 9 February 2014
Mail & Guardian – CAR Muslims targets of mob violence – 9 February 2014
The Frontier Post – \”CAR\’s Muslim civilians\” \’at risk\’ – 9 February 2014
The Denver Post – Thousands of Muslims are fleeing Central African Republic amid mob violence – 9 February 2014

 

Iran Schedules Warships to Approach US Maritime Borders

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran-An Iranian naval officer has said that a number of war ships have been ordered to approach U.S. maritime borders in response to U.S. vessels in the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s Jamaran-2 guided missile destroyer is docked during its inauguration in the port city of Anzali, northwest of Tehran, March 17, 2013 (photo courtesy of Voice of America)

Admiral Afshin Rezayee Haddad, stated “Iran’s military fleet is approaching the United States’ maritime borders, and this move has a message.”  Haddad, known as the commander of the Iranian navy’s northern fleet, further said the vessels began their voyage towards the Atlantic Ocean by way of waters near South Africa.

“A destroyer and a helicopter-carrying supply ship have already entered the Atlantic Ocean via waters near South Africa,” stated Haddad.  The ships reportedly set sail last month from the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, carrying some navy academy cadets for training along with their regular crews.  The ships are on a three-month mission.

A U.S. defense official responded by casting doubt on any claims that the Iranian ships were approaching the U.S. maritime borders, but added that the ships are free to operate and sail within international waters.

Iran views the Persian Gulf as its own “backyard” and believes that it has a legitimate interest in expanding its influence in the Gulf. However, the U.S. and its allies regularly hold naval exercises in the Gulf in order to ensure freedom of navigation where 40 percent of the world’s seaborne oil exports pass through

Iran has made claims that they could block the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf and has been under military attack due to its disputed nuclear program.  As such, Iran has been developing its presence in international waters, regularly launching vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates within the area.

Iranian Members of Parliament have accused President Hassan Rouhani of stopping a scheduled missile exercise.  IRNA has reported that 24 members of parliament stated that the Supreme National Security Council, headed by President Rouhani, stopped the annual test while not approving its budget.

For more information, please see the following:

 Al Jazeera-Iran says warships to approach US borders-09 February 2014

Payvand Iran News-Iran: Warships to Approach US Maritime Borders-09 February 2014

Reuters-Iran says warships sailing towards U.S.: agency-08 February 2014

Voice of America-Iran: Warships to Approach US Maritime Borders-08 February 2014

 

Iraq Accused of Women Prisoners Abuse

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq-Thousands of women have suffer torture and other forms of abuse, including sexual assault, while being illegally held in Iraqi prisons, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday.

More than 4,200 women are currently being held in prisons across Iraq (photo courtesy of BBC)

The allegations were based on a report containing the testimony of the female detainees, their relatives and lawyers, prison medics, court documents and meetings with official.  Thus, giving credit to one of the central claims made by disaffected Sunni Arabs frustrated with the Shiite-led government.

The minority community has taken issue with the dominating long-running protests in Iraq’s Sunni-dominated areas, saying it is unfairly targeted by the authorities and security forces, and points in particular to the treatment of women in prisons.

One of the 27 women interviewed by the New York-based watchdog had to walk on crutches because she said she had suffered nine days of beatings, electrical shocks and other forms of abuse leaving her disabled.

HRW reported that that woman was later executed despite a medical report supporting her allegations of torture.

A vast majority of the women prisoners have reported being beaten, kicked, and slapped, given electric shocks, and raped, while others have been threatened with sexual assault, sometimes in front of male relatives.

The women were often arrested either in order to question their male relatives’ alleged support for militants or to harass male family members or the community more generally.

“Iraqi security forces and officials act as if brutally abusing women will make the country safer,” HRW deputy Middle East and North Africa director Joe Stork said in a statement.

“In fact, these women and their relatives have told us that as long as security forces abuse people with impunity, we can only expect security conditions to worsen.”

Human rights groups, analysts, diplomats and lawmakers have become increasingly vocal over alleged abuses, including mass arrests, prolonged periods of detention without trial, the closure of some neighborhoods and detainee abuse.

Analysts say that while most Sunnis do not actively support militant groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a powerful jihadist group, their anger means they are less likely to cooperate with authorities in providing intelligence or handing in suspected insurgents.

“These abuses have caused a deep-seated anger and lack of trust between Iraq’s diverse communities and security forces, and all Iraqis are paying the price,” Stork said.

For more information, please see the following: 

Al Arabiya-HRW: Iraq security forces abuse women prisoners-06 February 2014

Al Jazeera-Iraq slammed for women prisoners abuse-06 February 2014

BBC-Iraqi security forces ‘abuse female prisoners’-06 February 2014

Rudaw-Human Rights Watch: Thousands of Women Suffer Abuse in Iraqi Jails-06 February 2014