Rights Group Urges UN Mission In CAR To Strengthen Civilian Protection, Ensure Justice

A prominent rights group on Tuesday decried ongoing violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) despite an extension to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), calling on the peacekeeping force to intensify civilian protection and step up its efforts to secure justice

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2019) A prominent rights group on Tuesday decried ongoing violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) despite an extension to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), calling on the peacekeeping force to intensify civilian protection and step up its efforts to secure justice.

The statement was published on the Human Rights Watch (HRW) website following Thursday's extension of the MINUSCA mission for another year.

"As MINUSCA commits to another year in the country, preventing the killing of civilians and supporting accountability measures should remain top priorities for the mission," Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at HRW, was quoted as saying in the statement.

The HRW detailed episodes of violence and clashes where the MINUSCA personnel failed to avert the situations and provide timely assistance to civilians. In one confrontation between a radical Christian armed group and the so-called Unite Pour la Paix en Centrafrique, the HRW says fighting destroyed 60 homes and displaced up to 9,000 people.

The rights organization noted that, while the peace deal reached last February between the car government and 14 armed groups has helped integrate some into the national army and their leaders into government positions, large swatches of the republic outside the capital of Bangui remain beset by violence.

Another armed group in May killed 46 civilians in three attacks in the country's east.

"The UN Security Council and MINUSCA should make it clear to armed groups that the mission will do everything in its power to ensure that those responsible for serious crimes are held to account," Mudge added.

The statement underscored the importance of strengthening the Special Criminal Court, set up in June 2015 with UN support and made up of judges, prosecutors and investigators who have the jurisdiction to try armed groups for war crimes. The rights group said that the court must intensify investigations and recruit more staff to ramp up the judicial process.

The HRW also provided advice to MINUSCA, saying that the international authority should identify the reasons why its forces did not ensure civilian protection in such incidents and address any operational issues that prevented a swifter response.

CAR has been mired in a civil war since 2012 with much of the fighting in recent years taking place between the Muslim-majority Seleka and Christian Anti-Balaka militias and their various affiliated groups.