CAR vows to turn the heat on Christian militants

Central African Republic (CAR) has declared war on anti-balaka, the rogue Christian militia bent on killing Muslims. This declaration comes after United Nations peacekeepers uncovered a mass grave at a military camp in the capital city of Bangui. Anti-balaka militias were formed to defend Christians from attacks by Muslim Seleka rebels following the ouster of former president Francois Bozize last year.

Despite the retreat and surrender of the Muslim Seleka group, the anti-balaka have continued to lynch, torture and execute Muslims. However, new CAR President Catherine Samba-Panza said she will “go to war” with anti-balaka. The president went on to say, “They think that because I’m a woman, I’m weak. But now the anti-balaka who want to kill will themselves be hunted.”

Samba-Panza argued that anti-balaka have “lost their sense of mission” and have become the very same killers, pillagers and oppressors they claim to be fighting against. According to the organization, Human Rights Watch, tens of thousands of Muslims from areas, under the control of the anti-balaka forces, have fled the country.

“Whether the anti-balaka leaders are pursuing a deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing or exacting abusive collective punishment against the Muslim population, the end result is clear: the disappearance of long-standing Muslim communities,” Peter Bouckaert, HRW executive said in a statement.

Furthermore, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres joined Samba-Panza to call for the deployment of international peacekeepers to halt what he described as a “humanitarian catastrophe”. He went on to say, “There is an ethnic-religious cleansing taking place. It must be stopped.”

However, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said a possible peacekeeping mission, requested by Samba-Panza, would take time to deploy. Therefore, CAR’s forces, African Union forces and French forces in the country will work together to contain and disarm anti-balaka militiamen.

The scope of anti-balaka’s atrocities was observed on Wednesday when UN peacekeepers found bodies in a septic tank at a military camp where Seleka fighters were stationed for several months. Authorities believe the mass grave of Muslim Seleka members is the work of anti-balaka.

Source: The Africa Report