Tit-For-Tat [Sectarian] Atrocities in the Central African Republic
Joanne Mariner Senior Crisis Response Advisor, Amnesty International
Posted: 12/12/2013 10:17 am
One of the most depressing aspects of the ongoing violence in the Central African Republic is its symmetry.
Christian and Muslim militia alike are carrying out equally vicious attacks. And members of both communities, while denouncing each other's crimes, will tell you that their own people are acting in self defense.
With each new outrage, the pattern of tit-for-tat atrocities becomes harder to break.
Earlier this week I interviewed a Christian man who recounted how he was nearly killed in a raid last week on the outskirts of Bangui, the country's capital. Shot in the side at close range, he survived by playing dead; he claims that others from his neighborhood were not as lucky.
"It was the Peuhls," he said, referring to an ethnic group of nomadic Muslim herders. "They were armed with Kalashnikovs."
An electrician by trade, the man had gotten up early that morning to get ready for work. Grimacing in pain as he showed me his heavily bandaged back, he said that when he stepped out into his yard he was ambushed by a group of four local Peuhls whom he knew by sight. "I was sure I was dead," he said, still seemingly amazed that he wasn't.
He told me that the attack occurred just off the road leading to Boali, a town some 90 kilometers north of Bangui. I heard the name Boali again the following day, this time from a group of Peuhl women whose village, located a few kilometers from the town, had been set upon by the Christian militia known as "anti-balaka," or anti-machete.
More than a dozen villagers were reportedly killed in the attack, which was carried out just a few days before the larger explosion of violence in Bangui last Thursday. Adults were not the only ones targeted: 10 children were injured, some by gunfire and some by machete. One of the cruel ironies of this conflict is that a group that calls itself anti-machete is even willing to use that weapon on the young.
It has taken less than a year for sectarian passions to become so enflamed. Mostly Muslim rebels known as the Seleka overthrew the government of this majority Christian country last March. At the time of the coup, sectarian motivations were not very apparent; what drove the conflict was the usual desire for power and control over natural resources.
How did a bad situation become worse, and then much, much worse? When did hatred of the Seleka degenerate into - for many of the country's Christians - anger at all Muslims?
A visit to any hospital in Bangui shows where this path leads. But there, at least, among the badly wounded Muslim and Christian patients crowding the wards, are reminders of another, more hopeful way: local doctors and nurses who are providing desperately needed medical care to members of both communities. To them, an injured child is an injured child, not an enemy.
The choice between these two paths rests, for now, with the international community. Unless international peacekeeping forces urgently restore security the sectarian bloodshed will continue. The international community can also help by ensuring that atrocities are independently and impartially investigated, so that individual perpetrators - not entire communities - are held accountable for their crimes.
In the longer term, Christians and Muslims in the Central African Republic will need to reconcile. For now they just need to stop killing each other.
Joanne Mariner, is Amnesty International's Senior Crisis Advisor, currently working in Bangui in the Central African Republic.
Related: Clashes in east DR Congo day after aborted peace summit
2013 - "US blocks military aid to Rwanda over alleged backing of M23 child soldiers Rwandan government condemns sanctions, which also apply to Burma, Central African Republic, Sudan and Syria [...]Marie Harf, a state department spokesperson, added that Rwanda was sanctioned because of its "support for the M23, a rebel group which continues to actively recruit and abduct children" and to threaten the stability of DRC. P - Rwanda will not receive US international military education and training funds, which help train foreign militaries, nor US foreign military financing, which funds the sale of American military material and services, Harf explained. P - The US has had close military ties with Rwanda since president Paul Kagame .. http://www.theguardian.com/world/paul-kagame 's Rwandan Patriotic Front came to power after the 1994 genocide. The country's army is regarded as one the most disciplined and efficient in the region. P - The M23, which accuses the Congolese government of failing to honour a 2009 peace deal, is fighting the Congolese army and a UN intervention brigade near the Rwandan border. In July, Human Rights Watch said it had documented dozens of cases of forced recruitment by M23 forces .. http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/07/22/dr-congo-m23-rebels-kill-rape-civilians .. since March, including of children."
Issued on: 17/12/2024 - 12:43Modified: 17/12/2024 - 13:23
Video by: Clément DI ROMA
The congolese army lost more territory to M23 rebels they have been battling in the East. The Rwanda backed militia have displaced thousands since its resurgence in 2021 and reportedly forced soldiers into retreat after siesing the town of Matembe in North Kivo. The latest clashes followed the cancellation on Sunday of a crucial peace summit about the conflict. FRANCE 24 correspondent, Clement Di Roma has more. https://www.france24.com/en/video/20241217-clashes-in-east-dr-congo-day-after-aborted-peace-summit
Apple accused of using conflict minerals
5 hours ago Will Ross & Damian Zane BBC News
The mineral-rich east of DR Congo has seen years of conflict often fuelled by what lies underneath the ground AFP
The Democratic Republic of Congo has filed criminal complaints in France and Belgium against subsidiaries of the tech giant Apple, accusing it of using conflict minerals.
Acting on behalf of the Congolese government, lawyers have argued that Apple is complicit in crimes committed by armed groups that control some of the mines in the east of DR Congo.
In its 2023 review of the issue, Apple said it monitors its supply chain and works to mitigate risks as well as improving measures to trace the source of minerals.
The authorities in France and Belgium will now look at whether there is enough evidence to take the legal action further.
In a statement, the lawyers for the DR Congo talked about Apple's supply chain being contaminated with "blood minerals".
They allege that the tin, tantalum and tungsten is taken from conflict areas and then "laundered through international supply chains".
"These activities have fuelled a cycle of violence and conflict by financing militias and terrorist groups and have contributed to forced child labour and environmental devastation."
Apple has not responded to a BBC request for comment, but in its report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission detailing its actions on this issue in 2023, the company highlights the measures it has taken to ensure that it is not using conflict minerals.
"Although Apple does not directly purchase, procure, or source primary minerals, we are committed to meeting and exceeding internationally accepted due diligence standards for primary minerals and recycled materials in our supply chain," it said.
As a result, all those involved in the supply chain have to participate in an "independent third-party conflict minerals audit". Apple said that in 2023 it removed 14 "smelters and refiners" that would not participate or did not meet the requirements for responsible sourcing.
The east of DR Congo is a major source of minerals and the global thirst for them has fuelled wars there for decades.
Rights groups have long alleged that large quantities of minerals from legitimate mines, as well as from facilities run by armed groups, are transported to neighbouring Rwanda and end up in our phones and computers.
Rwanda has in the past described the Congolese government's legal action against Apple as a media stunt.
It has denied selling any conflict minerals to the tech company.
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