CAR on the brink of collapse?
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
Jim Lobe from Washington
The lives and well-being of hundreds of thousands of civilians are threatened by a rising tide of violence and lawlessness in Central African Republic (CAR), according to Amnesty International, which called Tuesday for the immediate deployment of U.N. peacekeeping force there.
"Law and order in the Central African Republic is heading rapidly towards the brink of collapse," according to Godfrey Byaruhanga, an Amnesty researcher who just returned from a visit to the country and to southern Chad where he interviewed refugees from CAR.
"The government's authority is already effectively confined to the capital, Bangui, where also insecurity, corruption and impunity reign. The repercussions of such a collapse would be catastrophic for the entire central African region," he added.
The worst violence, according to Amnesty, was taking place in the northern part of the country where the civilian population not only faces violence from government troops and various rebel factions, but from armed bandits, as well.
The situation in CAR, one of the world's poorest countries, has largely been overshadowed by that of neighbouring Darfur, where the government of Sudan has been accused by the United States of committing "genocide" against African ethnic groups, and eastern Chad, the target of cross-border raids by Khartoum-backed Arab militias.
The government of CAR President Francois Bozize is closely allied with Chadian President Idriss Deby, who has supported rebel forces in Darfur, and regional analysts have charged Sudan with backing rebel forces in CAR, as well as in Chad.
Leaders of the three countries met in France in February to sign an accord that committed each of them withhold all support to rebel forces from the others.
But the agreement has been largely ignored while the deployment of a 21,000-man joint U.N.-African Union (AU) force to the region to help police the borders and protect civilians has been delayed by protracted negotiations between the U.N. and Khartoum.
As many as 400,000 people are believed to have died as a result of the violence in Darfur, while more than two million others have been displaced from their homes. Tens of thousands have also been uprooted by the cross-border violence in Chad.
In the northern part of CAR, a country of about 4.5 million people, an estimated 280,000 people have been displaced over the past two years of fighting in the region.
But the situation has deteriorated sharply in recent months, according to Amnesty. Earlier this month, a French aid worker from Doctors Without Borders was killed during an assessment mission along CAR's common border with Chad and Cameroon. U.N. humanitarian agencies suspended operations in the affected area.
According to Amnesty's Byaruhanga, the northern region has become "a free-for-all -- a hunting ground for the region's various armed opposition forces, government troops, and even armed bandits -- some of whom come from as far away as West Africa to kidnap and loot in local villages."
Rebel forces kill civilians who refused to support or join them, while government troops have reportedly executed civilians accused of working with the rebels and have burned down entire villages during reprisal attacks.
Meanwhile, bandits, known as Zaraguinas or "coupeurs de routes", roam freely in the area searching for cattle and children who they seize and then release in exchange for ransom. According to refugees interviewed by Byaruhanga, parents have had to pay the equivalent of up to 4,000 dollars per child, some of whom have been kidnapped multiple times.
"The entire area has become a cauldron of violence and fear -- threatening to destabilise even further what is already one of the most unstable and dangerous areas of the world," Byaruhanga said.
"Civilians are trapped in a lose-lose situation, with many so afraid that they are actually fleeing into Sudan, Cameroon and southern Chad -- effectivenly moving from the frying pan into the fire out of sheer desperation."
France, which has intervened frequently in CAR since its independence in 1960, has some 200 troops stationed in Bangui to protect the capital.
The U.S., which withdrew its ambassador to CAR in 2002 to underscore its dissatisfaction with the failure of then-President Ange-Felix Patasse to implement various economic and political reforms, is sending a new ambassador, Frederick Cook, there next month.
Patasse, who was elected president in 1993, was replaced by Bozize in a military coup in 2003. Bozize won elections, that, according to Cook, met "minimum international standards" in May 2005.
At least one of the rebel factions, the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy, is considered loyal to Patasse. One of its leaders, Magloire Nguetel, told Associated Press earlier this week that he and some of his troops were prepared to lay down their arms and rejoin the army under Bozize.
In a survey released last week, Foreign Policy magazine and the Washington-based Fund for Peace ranked CAR and three of its neighbours among the top 10 in an annual "failed state" index. Sudan was ranked number one; Chad, five; the Democratic Republic of Congo, and CAR, 10.
"Sitting at the border of Chad, Sudan, and the Congos, the country faces pressure from neighbours, who may at times prefer that the country be weak and unstable so that it can either serve as a refuge for their rebels or forces or both," Cook told senators during his confirmation hearing earlier this month.
Inter Press Service
The lives and well-being of hundreds of thousands of civilians are threatened by a rising tide of violence and lawlessness in Central African Republic (CAR), according to Amnesty International, which called Tuesday for the immediate deployment of U.N. peacekeeping force there.
"Law and order in the Central African Republic is heading rapidly towards the brink of collapse," according to Godfrey Byaruhanga, an Amnesty researcher who just returned from a visit to the country and to southern Chad where he interviewed refugees from CAR.
"The government's authority is already effectively confined to the capital, Bangui, where also insecurity, corruption and impunity reign. The repercussions of such a collapse would be catastrophic for the entire central African region," he added.
The worst violence, according to Amnesty, was taking place in the northern part of the country where the civilian population not only faces violence from government troops and various rebel factions, but from armed bandits, as well.
The situation in CAR, one of the world's poorest countries, has largely been overshadowed by that of neighbouring Darfur, where the government of Sudan has been accused by the United States of committing "genocide" against African ethnic groups, and eastern Chad, the target of cross-border raids by Khartoum-backed Arab militias.
The government of CAR President Francois Bozize is closely allied with Chadian President Idriss Deby, who has supported rebel forces in Darfur, and regional analysts have charged Sudan with backing rebel forces in CAR, as well as in Chad.
Leaders of the three countries met in France in February to sign an accord that committed each of them withhold all support to rebel forces from the others.
But the agreement has been largely ignored while the deployment of a 21,000-man joint U.N.-African Union (AU) force to the region to help police the borders and protect civilians has been delayed by protracted negotiations between the U.N. and Khartoum.
As many as 400,000 people are believed to have died as a result of the violence in Darfur, while more than two million others have been displaced from their homes. Tens of thousands have also been uprooted by the cross-border violence in Chad.
In the northern part of CAR, a country of about 4.5 million people, an estimated 280,000 people have been displaced over the past two years of fighting in the region.
But the situation has deteriorated sharply in recent months, according to Amnesty. Earlier this month, a French aid worker from Doctors Without Borders was killed during an assessment mission along CAR's common border with Chad and Cameroon. U.N. humanitarian agencies suspended operations in the affected area.
According to Amnesty's Byaruhanga, the northern region has become "a free-for-all -- a hunting ground for the region's various armed opposition forces, government troops, and even armed bandits -- some of whom come from as far away as West Africa to kidnap and loot in local villages."
Rebel forces kill civilians who refused to support or join them, while government troops have reportedly executed civilians accused of working with the rebels and have burned down entire villages during reprisal attacks.
Meanwhile, bandits, known as Zaraguinas or "coupeurs de routes", roam freely in the area searching for cattle and children who they seize and then release in exchange for ransom. According to refugees interviewed by Byaruhanga, parents have had to pay the equivalent of up to 4,000 dollars per child, some of whom have been kidnapped multiple times.
"The entire area has become a cauldron of violence and fear -- threatening to destabilise even further what is already one of the most unstable and dangerous areas of the world," Byaruhanga said.
"Civilians are trapped in a lose-lose situation, with many so afraid that they are actually fleeing into Sudan, Cameroon and southern Chad -- effectivenly moving from the frying pan into the fire out of sheer desperation."
France, which has intervened frequently in CAR since its independence in 1960, has some 200 troops stationed in Bangui to protect the capital.
The U.S., which withdrew its ambassador to CAR in 2002 to underscore its dissatisfaction with the failure of then-President Ange-Felix Patasse to implement various economic and political reforms, is sending a new ambassador, Frederick Cook, there next month.
Patasse, who was elected president in 1993, was replaced by Bozize in a military coup in 2003. Bozize won elections, that, according to Cook, met "minimum international standards" in May 2005.
At least one of the rebel factions, the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy, is considered loyal to Patasse. One of its leaders, Magloire Nguetel, told Associated Press earlier this week that he and some of his troops were prepared to lay down their arms and rejoin the army under Bozize.
In a survey released last week, Foreign Policy magazine and the Washington-based Fund for Peace ranked CAR and three of its neighbours among the top 10 in an annual "failed state" index. Sudan was ranked number one; Chad, five; the Democratic Republic of Congo, and CAR, 10.
"Sitting at the border of Chad, Sudan, and the Congos, the country faces pressure from neighbours, who may at times prefer that the country be weak and unstable so that it can either serve as a refuge for their rebels or forces or both," Cook told senators during his confirmation hearing earlier this month.
Inter Press Service