A map of the Sahel region showing where Al Qaeda operates (AFP/Graphic)
Iran Deploys Troops, Ballistic Missiles To Eritrea
Posted on 09/07/2013 7:23:38 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
New York, US - UN agencies on Friday expressed alarm at the increasing rate of human rights violations in the Central African Republic (CAR), following reports of burnt and abandoned villages, massive displacement, as well as looting and torture.
PANA in New York reported that members of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), along with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), travelled last week to the town of Paoua, 500 kilometres north of the capital, Bangui.
They found seven villages burnt to the ground and deserted and the eighth partially burnt with villagers hiding in the bush.
UNHCR spokesperson, Ms. Melissa Fleming, who spoke with reporters in Geneva, monitored by PANA correspondent at the UN headquarters in New York, said: 'Local people spoke of physical assaults, extortion, looting, arbitrary arrest and torture by armed men'.
'The villagers said their actions may have been in retaliation for a clash last month with self-defence groups who were trying to protect their families and property,' she disclosed.
She also said: 'In general, civilians are basically at the mercy of a security vacuum in CAR, which has led to a proliferation of armed groups, vigilante groups and people are just at the mercy of anyone with a gun'.
Ms. Fleming said UNHCR had registered over 3,000 displaced persons in the region, adding to the estimated total of at least 206,000 displaced across the country since December.
The spokesperson also said that tens of thousands more have fled to Chad and Cameroon.
She said that people are staying away from the roads to avoid detection, while rains are making living conditions even worse.
She, however, disclosed that the UNHCR is distributing tarpaulins, mosquito nets, kitchen sets and other supplies to displaced people, while the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are also delivering aid, shelter and survival supplies to affected communities.
Ms. Fleming further noted that the UN refugee agency has appealed to the authorities in the Central African Republic and all armed groups to protect civilians and allow aid agencies to reach people in need.
PANA recalled that CAR, which has been marked by decades of instability and fighting, witnessed a resumption of violence last December when the Seleka rebel coalition launched a series of attacks.
A peace agreement was reached in January, but the rebels again seized the capital, Bangui, in March, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee.
The recent fighting has further eroded even the most basic services in the country and exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation affecting the entire population of 4.6 million people, half of whom are children.
Currently, 1.6 million people are in dire need of assistance, including food, protection, health care, water, sanitation and shelter.
Let me guess that Muslims are burning non-Muslim villages
Since 85% of the country is non-Muslim I’d think that’s a safe bet.
They sure go to a lot of trouble here trying not to say Muslim.
Muslims are killing people all over the Middle East and Africa, and yet the bama boy wants to join them. Wants to help them kill more.
McCain and Graham seem to enjoy it to.
Muslims are on the warpath from the Atlantic to the Pacific, even the Philippines.
the moslems have always been on the warpath it is now thanks to governments like we have that they get to do it on a much larger scale
I’ve been reading articles about CAR since their last president fled. He was basically a puppet of big money South Africans with political ties. There was quite a dust up in Pretoria when several hundred of their soldiers got into a several hour fire fight during the sacking of the capitol. They lost a couple dozen men. Most South Africans didn’t even know they had troops in CAR. It looks like SA was about to invade the country and put the old president back in power until a huge public outcry stopped it. France sent in several hundred soldiers to secure their citizens.
Anyway none of the articles mentions that the rebels, now the government, are Muslims. I had to find a bio of their leader to learn that nugget.
Does the world demand justice and retaliation?
Depeneds. Is there a Qatari pipeline blueprint for this quadrant?
I don’t know but central Africa is about the last place we need to be involved in.
It's a former French colony that supplies uranium for the very large french nuclear industry. Kind of like Mali. Remember what happened in Mali?
I guess this means we are going to start bombing CAR now too..
Kind of like the 100 advisers we sent in 2011 to help track down the LRA? Their base is in the city of Obo ... Central African Republic. Pretty much a total news blackout about their status.
I doubt it. There's a totally insane Soviet trained Muslim in charge. I expect a state dinner.
All too well
Only if the Saudis tell us to.
Our world has become too PC to survive. We can’t stop the barbarians because we’re afraid of what someone might call us. I seriously doubt we will survive.
exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation affecting the entire population of 4.6 million people, half of whom are children.
These villages were occupied by people just above the level of prehistoric savages and were comprised of grass and cow dung.
Why in the world would we be concerned with that?
A map of the Sahel region showing where Al Qaeda operates (AFP/Graphic)
Iran Deploys Troops, Ballistic Missiles To Eritrea
Thanks Pan_Yan.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
