UN: Central African Republic Security Deteriorating
April 16, 2013
by VOA News
The United Nations says it is alarmed by the "rapidly deteriorating" security situation in the Central African Republic following last month's coup d'etat.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says there has been a wide range of alleged rights violations including targeted killings, torture, rape, arbitrary arrests and recruitment of child soldiers.
Pillay says 119 people have been killed since the fall of the government on March 24, with 20 of those deaths occurring since Saturday in the capital, Bangui.
In a separate statement, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the violence against the civilian population and urged authorities to restore the rule of law.
Ban said the perpetrators must be held individually accountable for their actions.
The U.N. says some 37,000 people have already fled the CAR to escape the violence and tens of thousands more are displaced internally.
Rebels from the Seleka alliance overthrew longtime CAR President Francois Bozize after storming the capital last month.
The Seleka rebel coalition is a loose alliance of rebel groups from the north that began an offensive in December, saying the government had not held up its end of 2007 peace accords.
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