A group of soldiers in the turbulent Central African Republic capital of Bangui lynched a suspected rebel on Wednesday, minutes after hearing CAR’s new president promise to restore peace at a ceremony reinstating the divided country’s army.
A Reuters witness saw about 20 uniformed soldiers accuse a member of the crowd at a training centre in the capital Bangui of having belonged to Seleka, the mostly Muslim rebel group that seized power in a coup last March.
They then stabbed him repeatedly until he was dead. A soldier stamped on the lifeless body, which was then dragged through the streets, dismembered and set alight as residents looked on and took photographs.
Ten minutes earlier, about 20 metres away, the new interim president, Catherine Samba-Panza, had addressed the crowd of at least 1,000 soldiers at a ceremony meant to re-introduce the army to the nation after it effectively disappeared from view during Seleka’s rule.
“Within a month, I would like to fully secure the greater part of the country, and I aim to stick to my word,” she said.
Samba-Panza was appointed two weeks ago to lead the country until elections are held next February, after coup leader Michel Djotodia stepped down under intense international pressure. She made clear it would take time to restore order.
“At a certain point, everyone will be held responsible for their acts. I am warning troublemakers who continue to sow disorder in the country,” she said.
Seleka’s 10-month occupation of cities and towns across the country has been marked by rampant looting, torture and murder.
The deep resentment they spawned among the Christian majority led to the formation of Christian “anti-balaka” militias, meaning “anti-machete” in the local Sango language, further fanning the flames of inter-religious bloodshed.
About 1 million people, a quarter of the former French colony’s population, have fled their homes. Even the presence of 1,600 French soldiers and 5,000 African troops has so far failed to stop the tit-for-tat violence, which the UN says has already killed more than 2,000 people.
At least 22 people, including 16 women, were killed on Wednesday when Seleka fighters attacked the northwestern city of Nzakone, according to a resident of the village contacted by Reuters.
Chadian peacekeepers have been accused of facilitating the movements of Seleka leaders responsible for a new wave of atrocities.
Many of Seleka’s fighters come from Chad and Sudan, but Chadian officials deny supporting the rebels.
Chadian military officials said on Wednesday they had detained and disarmed 262 fleeing Seleka fighters that had entered Chad, seizing more than 300 weapons, ammunition and a dozen vehicles.
“We didn’t want to give our weapons to the French, so we crossed over to give them to the Chadians,” Seleka’s Colonel Ahmat Abdelkérim Bahar told a Reuters journalist in the town of Doba.
France’s defense minister says the military is likely to extend its mission in Central African Republic.
Jean-Yves Le Drian told RTL radio Thursday that extending the UN-mandated six-month mission was probably the best way to ensure a peaceful political transition.
Source: France24
