UN launches probe into rights violations in C. African Republic
Iran Press TV
Mon Mar 10, 2014 5:57PM GMT
Three UN-mandated international investigators have launched a probe into human rights violations in the crisis-hit Central African Republic.
The probe comes amid fears of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the country against Muslims.
The group will spend two weeks in the country and tries to speak with the victims, and witnesses.
The head of the group, Bernard Acho Muna, insists that the impunity of the perpetrators of the crimes should be ended.
'We have to put an end to the impunity,' said Muna, head of an international commission of inquiry appointed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon in January.
The conflict in the CAR erupted after Christian militias launched coordinated attacks on the mostly Muslim Seleka group, which toppled the government last March.
Christian militias, however, have been targeting the Muslim population as a whole.
French and African peacekeepers are on the ground, but they have been unable to stop the violence and even in some occasions are accused of killing Muslims.
Some 2,000 French troops, supported by a 6,000-strong African Union force known as MISCA, are currently stationed in the Central African Republic. The foreign forces have so far failed to curb the violence.
On February 25, French lawmakers approved the extension of France's military intervention in the Central African Republic beyond April.
So far, thousands of people are believed to have been killed and more than one million displaced.
JR/AB
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