Rights group says 'justice vital to peace' in CAR
Bangui, CAR (PANA) - The peace accord between the government of the Central African Republic (CAR) and armed groups that was signed on 6 February should not deter or displace efforts to deliver justice for the gravest crimes committed during the conflict, Human Rights Watch (HWR) said on Friday.
The accord to end a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives was negotiated by the African Union during 18 months of talks with the groups, while they continued to carry out brutal attacks on civilians. Violence in the northern and eastern parts of the country has intensified in recent months, including multiple attacks on camps for internally displaced people. About 1.2 million people are displaced by fighting across the country, HRW said in a statement.
“With multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during this conflict, and over a million people displaced, many across the Central African Republic are desperate to see it end,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at HRW. “But efforts to bring those responsible for the worst crimes to justice need to be an integral part of the resolution, and a general amnesty should be out of the question.”
The accord was finalised in Khartoum, Sudan, but signed by 14 armed groups in the CAR. Members of some of the groups are suspected of numerous grave abuses against civilians, including murder, rape, sexual slavery, torture, looting, persecution, and destruction of religious buildings. The people responsible for these acts can be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, HRW said.
The statement noted that the accord is vague on steps needed to ensure post-conflict justice and does not mention specific judicial processes, or recent efforts to promote justice in the country, though it recognizes the role impunity has played in entrenching violence.
It said among the recent efforts in the country has been the establishment of the Special Criminal Court, a new court in the domestic system mandated to try war crimes and crimes against humanity. It formally began operations in late 2018, with international participation and support.
In addition, at the request of the then-transitional government, in May 2014 the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened investigations into crimes committed since August 2012. The court arrested two leaders of the anti-balaka militias that were parties to the conflict, Alfred Yékatom and Patrice Edouard Ngaissona, in late 2018.
HRW urged the government and its international partners to continue to support the national judiciary, the Special Criminal Court, and the ICC’s investigation and prosecution of grave crimes.
It said CAR victims, activists, and justice practitioners continue to reaffirm an urgent and unequivocal demand for justice for the war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country since the crisis started.
It said this sentiment was expressed on 10 December, 2018, when survivors of sexual violence took the floor in parliament to mark Human Rights Day. “The slowness of justice is yet another crime for victims of sexual violence related to the conflict,” Bernadette Sayo, an activist, said.
HRW noted that a key sticking point at the Khartoum talks was the issue of amnesty, sought by almost all armed groups.
“The Special Criminal Court is an unprecedented effort to help deliver justice and needs support now more than ever,” Mudge said. “The court remains one of the best chances to provide justice and to end the cycles of violence that have plagued the Central African Republic for decades.”
The Central African Republic’s current crisis began in late 2012, when mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President François Bozizé and seized power through a campaign of violence and terror. In response, anti-balaka groups were formed and began carrying out reprisal attacks on Muslim civilians in mid-2013. African Union and French forces pushed the Seleka rebels out of the capital, Bangui, in 2014.
After two years of an interim government, relatively peaceful elections were organized and Faustin-Archange Touadéra was sworn in as president in March 2016.
Violence and attacks against civilians have continued under Touadéra, with Seleka factions and anti-balaka groups still controlling large swathes of the country, especially in the eastern and central regions.
-0- PANA MA 22Feb2019
