It is great and even timely that the International Criminal Court, ICC, opened a preliminary investigation into possible war crimes in the Central African Republic (CAR). Tens of thousands of Muslims have already fled to Cameroon and Chad.
CAR, one of Africa’s poorest nations, has been in chaos for more than a year after Muslim rebels seized power.
Fatou Bensouda [Gambian lawyer and former government civil servant] said she had received reports of “extreme brutality by various groups”. Mrs Bensouda said that her investigations so far included “hundreds of killings, acts of rape and sexual slavery, destruction of property, pillaging, torture, forced displacement and recruitment and use of children in hostilities.”
She added that “in many incidents, victims appear to have been deliberately targeted on religious grounds.”
Accounts of violence in CAR have become increasingly brutal, with reports of mob killings common. On Friday morning, witnesses said thousands of Muslims piled onto trucks in the capital Bangui to leave the city, escorted by Chadian peacekeepers.
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