An armed Christian militant group descending on a village near Bossangoa
town in the Central African Republic on March 6, 2014. UNHCR said it
was prepared to help evacuate some 19,000 Muslims at risk of attack from
mainly Christian militias. Photo/AFP
By AFP
In Summary
The UN refugee agency said Tuesday it was
prepared to help evacuate some 19,000 Muslims at risk of attack from
mainly Christian militias in the conflict-torn Central African Republic.
"What we don't want is to stand by and watch
people being slaughtered," UNHCR spokeswoman Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba told
reporters in Geneva.
She pointed out that so-called anti-balaka
militias controlled major routes to and from Bangui as well as a number
of towns and villages in the southwestern part of the country.
They posed a particular threat to Muslims in the
PK12 neighbourhood of the capital, in Boda, Carnot and Berberati to the
west and Bossangoa further north, she said, lamenting that "we fear for
the lives of 19,000 Muslims in those locations".
"UNHCR stands ready to assist with their
evacuation to safer areas within or outside of the country," she said,
pointing out that so far "the only thing keeping them from being killed
right now is the presence of (international) troops".
UN staff were heading to the town of Bemal in the
north Tuesday to discuss possibly relocating Muslims there, but
Lejeune-Kaba said it was difficult, since locals feared welcoming
evacuees could attract unrest to their area.
The chronically unstable Central African Republic
sank into chaos after the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels who had helped
topple president Francois Bozize a year ago refused to lay down their
arms and went rogue.
Their campaign of killing, raping and looting
prompted members of the Christian majority to form the anti-balaka
vigilante groups, which are also accused of atrocities.
Around 8,000 international troops are working to
contain the crisis in the former French colony, where more than 2,000
people have been killed since December.
At the height of the crisis in December and
January, more than a quarter of the country's 4.6 million people had
fled their homes.
A new surge in bloodshed has forced nearly 16,000
people from their homes in the capital since early last week alone,
Lejeune-Kaba said.
According to UNHCR numbers, 637,000 people in
total are now displaced inside the country, including 207,000 in Bangui,
while 82,000 mostly Muslim Central Africans had streamed into
neighbouring countries in the past three months.
The increase in violence has claimed more than 60
lives in the capital since March 22, Cecile Pouilly, spokeswoman for the
UN's human rights office, told reporters Tuesday.
She pointed especially to a grenade attack on a
funeral service in Bangui that claimed at least 20 lives on March 27,
and to the 24 people killed on Saturday by Chadian soldiers.
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