17, February 2017
Militants in Central African Republic executed 32 civilians in December 1
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has revealed details of the execution of at least 32 civilians by an armed group in the lawless heart of the Central African Republic late last year. The HRW said in a report on Thursday that militants from the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), a splinter group from a rebel force in neighboring Chad, had killed 32 civilians and captured fighters in the town of Bakala in December 2016.
The New York-based rights group said 25 people had been killed after they were called to a school for an alleged meeting, while seven other men were executed as they were returning from a nearby gold mine. “Accounts of the incidents were provided by a survivor and eight witnesses, including five men who were forced to help dispose of the bodies,” said the HRW in a statement.
A representative of the rights group in the Africa region also denounced the killing as “brazen war crimes by UPC fighters who feel free to kill at will.” In January, the UPC denied that its militants had been involved in any form of killing in Bakala region. “Soldiers in the UPC cannot execute civilians or prisoners … What you have heard about the UPC are lies,” said Ali Darassa, UPC’s commander since the formation of the group in September 2014.
Experts from the United Nations had earlier warned that armed groups were using the lawlessness in tracts of the CAR to maintain their interests, ranging from control of gold and other mines, cattle rustling and highway robbery. “They have taken the place of the judicial apparatus and [they] terrify the population,” Marie-Therese Keita-Bocoum, an independent UN expert on human rights in the CAR said, adding that “armed groups reign as masters over more than 60 percent of the territory, benefiting from total impunity.”
France and the UN’s mission in the CAR, known as MINUSCA, have intervened militarily in the African country to end large-scale massacres and restore relative order to the capital, Bangui. However, insecurity continues to grip swaths of the territory.
Presstv
24, February 2017
Clashes erupt in South Africa amid xenophobic attacks 0
Police in South Africa have used rubber bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas to scatter people clashing at rival rallies by locals and refugees.
Hundreds of nationals and non-nationals were rallying in separate marches in the capital, Pretoria, on Friday. Police forces had formed lines to keep the two crowds apart. Clashes erupted nevertheless.
The refugees were from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Somalia, and Pakistan. Violence has emerged against refuges in South Africa in recent weeks. Locals have looted and torched houses and shops belonging to the refugees.
President Jacob Zuma said in a statement on Friday that there had been “threats of violence and acts of intimidation and destruction of property directed at non-nationals.”
“Residents in some communities blame non-nationals for the escalating crimes especially drug trafficking,” the president said, calling on South Africans not to blame migrants for the country’s widespread crime problems, but said the government would crack down on drug-dealing and illegal immigrants.
According to reports, local citizens targeted more than 20 shops in Atteridgeville, outside Pretoria, over the last week. Residents in Rosettenville, south of Johannesburg, also attacked at least 12 houses.
“We have decided to not to leave the house [during the anti-migrant march],” said Alain Bome, 47, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who has been in South Africa for 14 years. “We know very well there have been attacks. We are scared because we know South Africans.”
The rise in violence prompted the Nigerian government this week to call for the African Union to step in to stop the “xenophobic attacks” on its citizens in South Africa. Nigeria says at least 20 of its nationals were killed in South Africa last year.
South African authorities, however, rejected the number, saying many violent deaths in the country had occurred due to victims’ own criminal activity. South Africans blame refugees for the country’s near-record unemployment, accusing them of taking jobs from citizens and engaging in crimes.
Presstv