UN chief visits CAR, warns against genocide

During a Saturday visit to the CAR capital Bangui, Ban said the country’s authorities must avert the recurrence of the atrocities that led to the death of some 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994.

The UN chief also voiced concern over the ongoing “ethno-religious cleansing” in the CAR and said, “Most members of the Muslim minority have fled” their homes.

“Do not repeat the mistakes of the past -- heed the lessons. The fate of your country is in your hands,” the UN chief stressed.

The CAR has been facing deadly unrest since December last year, when Christian militia launched coordinated attacks against the mostly Muslim Seleka group, which toppled the government in March 2013.

Christian militia men in the country have been raging violence against Muslims, many of whom have escaped the country.

This is while thousands of French and African forces are operating in the country, but they have been unable to stop the violence. Even in some occasions, they have been accused of killing Muslims.

Ban has called for a 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping force to be deployed to the former French colony to contain the deadly violence there.

The UN secretary-general visited Bangui en route to Rwanda to commemorate the genocide in the country, which occurred after a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down in 1994. The atrocities lasted approximately 100 days and hence is called the “100 Days of Hell.”

HK