# US To Support France in Central African Republic



## longknife (Dec 10, 2013)

We've already got troops in Africa so this should come as no surprise. Gee! The mighty French military can't get this done by themselves? Read Hagel's statement @ GOOD SOLDIERS ORGANIZATION: Statement on Additional U.S. Support to France and the African Union in the Central African Republic


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## waltky (Apr 16, 2014)

UNHCR is broke...

*'Broke' U.N. agency pleads for help in Central African Republic*
_Wed Apr 16, 2014  - Inter-communal violence is tearing Central African Republic apart but the conflict is not getting the attention, or aid, needed to save huge numbers of lives, the head of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday._


> Almost 200,000 people have fled the country since December, and a further 160,000 are expected to this year. The UNHCR says it is spending cash there three times as fast as new funds are coming in, putting its mission in jeopardy.  "Indeed, we are in trouble," UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres told diplomats as he launched a $274 million appeal.  Central African Republic is only one crisis among many demanding U.N. funds stretched by humanitarian needs in South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, as well as natural disasters such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, and above all, Syria.  "Obviously there's no way we'll to be able to sustain this until the end of the year," Guterres told the diplomats. "At a certain moment we will be simply broke."
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> Central African Republic's government fell a year ago to Muslim Seleka rebels who were routed in December by Christian militia forces, unleashing anarchy and ethnic cleansing.  "When you start cutting people into pieces and roasting them," Guterres told reporters, "It's not an army against an army - it's people doing horrible things to their neighbors."  But the crisis has no major economic or strategic repercussions beyond the country's immediate neighbors, he said, so it gets little attention from the outside world.  "People do not feel threatened. People feel threatened with Syria, people feel threatened with Ukraine and what might happen. Even Somalia. But in relation to the Central African Republic people don't feel threatened, don't know where it is, it's very difficult, they've never heard about it."
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## waltky (Apr 28, 2014)

Muslims get out of the Central African Republic while the gettin's good...

*1,300 MUSLIMS LEAVE C. AFRICAN REPUBLIC CAPITAL*
_Apr 27,`14  -- Heavily armed peacekeepers escorted some of the last remaining Muslims out of Central African Republic's volatile capital on Sunday, trucking more than 1,300 people who for months had been trapped by violent Christian militants._


> Within minutes of the convoy's departure, an angry swarm of neighbors descended upon the mosque in a scene of total anarchy. Tools in hand, they swiftly dismantled and stole the loudspeaker once used for the call to prayer and soon stripped the house of worship of even its ceiling fan blades.
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> One man quickly scrawled "Youth Center" in black marker across the front of the mosque. Others mockingly swept the dirt from the ground in front of the building with brooms and shouted "We have cleaned Central African Republic of the Muslims!"  "We didn't want the Muslims here and we don't want their mosque here anymore either," said Guy Richard, 36, who loads baggage onto trucks for a living, as he and his friends made off with pieces of the mosque.
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*Looting Follows Evacuation of Muslims in CAR*
_April 27, 2014 ~ Heavily armed peacekeepers have escorted some of the last remaining Muslims out of Central African Republics capital, Bangui, trucking more than 1,300 people who for months had been trapped by Christian militants._


> Moments after the convoys departed Sunday, Christians swarmed into and picked apart houses and a mosque in Bangui's PK12 neighborhood, which had been a Muslim stronghold in the majority Christian south.  Armed Congolese peacekeepers stood watch, but did not attempt to stop the looting.
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## waltky (Dec 15, 2015)

Republic of Logone secedes from CAR...

*Central African rebel leader declares autonomous republic*
_15 Dec.`15  - Central African Republic rebel leader Noureddine Adam, who has rejected elections aimed at ending years of bloodshed, has declared an autonomous state in his northeastern stronghold just weeks ahead of the planned polls, a spokesman said on Tuesday._


> "The Republic of Logone was proclaimed Dec. 14 in (the town of) Kaga-Bandoro," Maouloud Moussa, Adam's spokesman and chief lieutenant, told Reuters. "What we want first of all is autonomy. Then we'll look at how to move towards independence."
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> http://news.yahoo.com/central-african-rebel-leader-declares-autonomous-republic-120114953.html


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## waltky (Dec 17, 2015)

Preliminary results from Sunday's referendum show 90 percent voting yes...

*Voters in CAR Show Overwhelming Support for New Constitution*
_ December 17, 2015 - Voters in the Central African Republic appear to have overwhelmingly approved a new constitution aimed at stopping more than three years of violence between Muslims and Christians._


> Preliminary results from Sunday's referendum show 90 percent voting yes.  Voting in parts of the country where militias threatened violence, including a Muslim neighborhood in Bangui, was postponed. Those ballots have yet to be counted.  The Red Cross says five people were killed and at least 20 others injured Sunday as supporters and opponents of the referendum traded gunfire in Bangui.
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*'Gross institutional failure' by UN on child sex abuse case*
_Dec 17,`15  -- The United Nations' "gross institutional failure" to act on allegations that French and other peacekeepers sexually abused children in the Central African Republic led to even more assaults, according to a new report released Thursday._


> One young boy who initially reported an attack on his friends more than a year ago now says he has been raped, too.  The independent panel found that the accounts by children as young as 9 of trading oral sex and other acts in exchange for food in the middle of a war zone in early 2014 were "passed from desk to desk, inbox to inbox, across multiple U.N. offices, with no one willing to take responsibility."  Among those said to have looked the other way were the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, as well as human rights staffers.
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> U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a statement, expressed "profound regret that these children were betrayed by the very people sent to protect them" and said he accepted the panel's broad findings.  The panel, led by Canadian judge Marie Desc2hamps, found that U.N. staffers failed or hesitated to pass the children's allegations to more senior officials, sometimes because of political concerns with France involved; showed "unconscionable delays" in protecting and supporting the children; failed to further investigate the allegations; failed to properly vet peacekeepers for past abuses; and, overall, appeared more concerned with whether one U.N. staffer had improperly alerted French authorities.  "The welfare of the victims and the accountability of the perpetrators appeared to be an afterthought, if considered at all," the report says.
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## waltky (Dec 31, 2015)

CAR elections begin with support of African Union...

*Central African Republic elections finally begin*
_Dec. 30, 2015 - With 30 candidates campaigning for the presidency, a runoff election in January is likely._


> Voters in the Central African Republic went to the polls Wednesday after rebels ended a threat to disrupt the presidential and legislative election.  Long lines of voters were observed in the capital, Bangui, and in other communities. It is hoped the election will end a three-year period of sectarian conflict, begun when the Muslim Seleka rebel group seized power in the impoverished, diamond-producing nation in 2013. Christian militias took up the fight against the Selekas, and United Nations military forces are now charged with maintaining order in the country.
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See also:

*AU Committed to Help CAR Return to Constitutional Rule*
_ December 30, 2015 - The African Union's Peace and Security Council will meet to decide when to lift its suspension of the Central African Republic once a legitimate president is chosen and inaugurated, an AU official said Wednesday as the CAR held elections aimed at returning constitutional rule to the country._


> The CAR was suspended following the 2013 overthrow of President Francois Bozize, and the subsequent turmoil after rebel leader-turned president Michel Djotodia was forced to resign. Many lives were lost in the ethnic and religion-based violence that forced many citizens to flee their homes to safer areas and to neighboring countries.
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## waltky (May 20, 2017)

Rebels raidin' aid reserves in C.A.R....




*Gunmen loot aid compounds in Central African Republic*
_Saturday 20th May, 2017 -  Gunmen have looted humanitarian compounds as fighting grips the Central African Republic town of Bria, while more than 20,000 people have fled to a nearby UN peacekeeping base, authorities said._


> Concerns are mounting that sectarian violence is again spiralling out of control, even in places that were previously spared during the conflict that began in late 2013.  Clashes erupted in Bria again on Friday and the situation was worsening, according to the UN humanitarian agency. At least five people have been killed and several dozen wounded since the unrest began on Tuesday.  "Armed groups came to humanitarian compounds and pillaged a warehouse," said the agency's chief of office for the country, Joseph Inganji. "There's fighting taking place but we don't know who's fighting who."
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*20,000 flee latest fighting in Central African Republic *
_May 19,`17 -- Gunmen looted humanitarian compounds as fighting gripped the Central African Republic town of Bria while more than 20,000 people have fled to a nearby U.N. peacekeeping base, authorities said Friday._


> Concerns are mounting that sectarian violence is again spiraling out of control in the country, even in places that previously were spared during the conflict that began in late 2013.  At least 20 people have been killed and several dozen wounded since the unrest in Bria began on Tuesday, said U.N. mission spokesman Herve Verhoosel.  He told The Associated Press that fighting was focused on the Bria airport Friday morning between rebel groups. Meanwhile, U.N. troops intervened to stop youth from looting and burning houses in an area where most humanitarian organizations are based. More than 50 aid workers were now sheltering at the U.N. base, he said.  Verhoosel called the situation "calm but unpredictable," with peacekeepers deployed in key areas of town.
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> The U.N. mission "deeply regrets that one more time, civilians pay the highest price," he said.  Earlier, the U.N. humanitarian agency's chief of office for the country, Joseph Inganji, told the AP that armed groups came to humanitarian compounds in Bria and pillaged a warehouse. "There's fighting taking place but we don't know who's fighting who," he said.  Attacks also targeted places of worship and government buildings, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders said in a statement, adding that at least 44 casualties had been treated at the local hospital since Monday. "These are stirring up ethnic and religious divides."
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## waltky (Sep 10, 2017)

Greater conflict between the Muslim and Christian communities likely...




*Rising Ethnic Tensions in CAR Fuel Fears of Spike in Violence*
_Sunday 10th September, 2017 - The head of United Nations peacekeeping says rising ethnic tensions in Central African Republic are likely to spur greater conflict between the Muslim and Christian communities unless action is taken to defuse the situation._


> U.N. Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix says ethnic hate speech is running in parallel with an increase in violence in the Central African Republic. And, he says, he finds this very worrisome.  "We are seeing a surge in very negative messages, very negative antagonistic rhetoric to the effect that 'foreigners should be eliminated.' Sort of putting one ethnic component or religious component of this country against the other and this is very worrying and serious."  Lacroix says it is a key responsibility of the leadership and all those in positions of influence in the Central African Republic to counter those messages.
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See also:

*Amnesty Says 'Horrific' Violence in Central African Republic*
_Saturday 9th September, 2017 - Rebels in a volatile region of Central African Republic are raping women and killing their male relatives in a "horrific surge" of violence that is now clearly along sectarian lines, Amnesty International warned Friday._


> The human rights organization interviewed dozens of survivors in Basse-Kotto prefecture in the country's east, where a rebel group known as the UPC has carried out waves of attacks. The rebels are considered an offshoot of the mostly Muslim rebel coalition known as Seleka that overthrew the longtime president in 2013.  While a period of relative stability allowed for Pope Francis to visit and for elections to be held, international observers now warn that Central African Republic is approaching the levels of violence seen at the height of the conflict in 2014.
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> One woman interviewed by Amnesty described a horrific attack in May. She said UPC fighters shot her husband in the legs when he tried to flee and then told the couple: "We're going to do something to you Christians that won't be forgotten for many generations."  One of the men raped her, while another raped her husband - all in front of their five children, Amnesty said. Then they fatally shot her husband in the head.
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