UN calls for international tribunal for war crimes in CAR
UN rights investigators have voiced alarm over an increasing number of war crimes being committed in the Central African Republic (CAR), calling for a “truly international” tribunal to probe such crimes in the strife-torn country.
During a news conference at the UN headquarters on Wednesday, Fatimata M’Baye and Philip Alston, two members of the International Tribunal Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic warned that “crimes against humanity” are being committed amid the ongoing violence in the CAR.
The two UN investigators also called for an international panel of judges who could objectively probe and prosecute those who perpetrate such heinous crimes.
Accordingly, the commission is set to make “recommendations to the UN Security Council and Secretary-General [Ban Ki-moon]” and provide the UN chief with a full list of perpetrators “surely implicated” in the conflict, M’Baye told the press conference.
“We think that for the conflict in CAR not to grow even more, the international community must act fast against those who abuse human rights law and humanitarian law,” said M’Baye, adding otherwise the situation in the CAR could turn into genocide.
Alston, in turn, outlined cases of serious human rights violations in the CAR, including “forced displacement” that in some cases could amount to “ethnic cleansing.”
Sectarian violence in CAR
The Central African Republic descended into chaos in December 2013, when Christian militia groups launched coordinated attacks against the Seleka group, which had toppled the government in March 2013.
Despite the presence of thousands of UN and French forces in the CAR, the conflict, which has killed thousands and displaced about a million people, has not been resolved.
Rights groups have on some occasions reported that Muslims in the war-torn country “are being butchered” at the hands of Christian militias.
The International Tribunal Commission of Inquiry was set up by the UN Security Council in 2013 with the task of investigating human rights violation reports in the Central African Republic.
HJM/MKA
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