UN Makes Strong Efforts to End Mass Slaughter in Central African Republic

By Lorraine Farquharson Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 3 2013 (IPS) - Unlawful killings, extrajudicial executions, rape and other forms of violence against women and girls – of innumerate amounts and committed at will by the country’s security forces and armed groups – was enough reason for Amnesty International’s loud outcry to the Security Council this week, asking for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to immediately deploy vigorous peacekeeping forces to the Central African Republic (CAR).

 Thousands of civilians have fled the CAR, headed toward refugee camps across the border in neighbouring country, Chad. This escalating unrest is due to the country’s heightened lawlessness and downward spiral since the ousting of President François Bozizé in March this year, when the Seleka coalition took power. Intense transitional measures now must be taken to uproot the violence and chaos engulfing the country, and protect the many civilians who remain in their native country as internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Amnesty International says it wants to see the UN Security Council to act now. Its hope is that with the international community’s support, the Secretary-General will draw in as many troops as possible (from other UN peacekeeping missions) so that a full UN peacekeeping mission can be deployed in the Central African Republic.

“The people of the Central African Republic cannot wait another day. They are staring into the abyss, with mass slaughter of civilians a real danger,” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Salil Shetty.

So far, France has already sent almost 1,000 additional troops to bolster the group of 2,600 African Union (AU) forces currently on the ground. To ensure that the French and African Union troops on the ground become more effective in peacekeeping, the Security Council is expected to provide troops with strong human rights mandates and necessary resources in order to bring the armed perpetrators to justice and protect civilians from this human catastrophe.

Proposals are also underway for a full-fledged UN peacekeeping operation to quell further ongoing abuse and human rights violations and overcome the current crisis. More reinforcements are said to follow as necessary, and discussions are expected to continue in the coming weeks and months regarding the structure and mandate of UN peacekeeping missions in the Republic.

The Security Council is also expected to seek an international arms embargo on the Central African Republic fearing that further arms being supplied to the country would be used to facilitate more inhumane acts. Such arms transfers would violate essential provisions of the Arms Trade Treaty, which can already be applied by the 115 states that have signed the treaty.

“The consequences of this life-and-death decision will affect the entire country [and] the horrific cycle of violence in the Central African Republic will hang heavily on the international community for years to come,” Shetty said.