Recently Amnesty International has published a report presenting info about multiple human rights violations which took place in the Central African Republic.
Since mid-December, the armed groups who called themselves “Coalition of Patriots for Change” (the CPR) have been destabilizing the Central African Republic and harming the civilians. Due to the fact that many areas have been liberated during the recent operation by the CAR national forces (FACA) and their Russian and Rwandan colleagues, the local media and social media obtained access to multiple cases of human rights` violations committed by the CPR fighters. Theft, looting, rape, the forced recruitment of people into their ranks, including involvement of children, and many other crimes against humanity are among the misdeeds of the CPR.
As it was confirmed by the Amnesty International, the “Coalition of Patriots for Change” is responsible for foray and disruptions into the delivery process of essential goods and humanitarian aid. Militants of the CPR deliberately blocked the passage of supply trucks, attacking truck drivers. On January 18, 2021, three truck drivers were injured in Babua during an ambush by the CPR. According to Central African authorities, two other drivers were killed in the same area on January 19. The country’s humanitarian situation is of a large dependence on supplies through this corridor. So such an attack committed by the illegal armed groups had led to food shortages and, as a result, to higher prices for goods and products. These deliberate blocking and abuses mean nothing else but a violation of international humanitarian law which calls on all parties to the conflict to authorize and facilitate the rapid passage of humanitarian rescue operations.
Noteworthy, such infringements are not the only source of enrichment for the gunmen of the CRC. Among the main methods of their illegal income is the money and property they took from the local people. Thus, abandoned houses were looted, the bandits were threatening population with physical violence, were torturing and maiming civilians in order to take everything what is valuable. According to locals, in resource-rich areas, CPR fighters were trying to pound the population into mines in order to make them mining diamonds and gold which would be then sent via shady roads. There are reports from certain prefectures about the cases of the disappearing of the healthy young people at the areas which are still under the control of the CPR. Later on, dead bodies missing essential organs were found in the neighbour forests. Organ harvesting and trafficking are likely to be the new source of revenue which the CPR is trying to explore, as they are loosing ground to government forces.
The Central African Republic has been ravished by armed conflicts for a long time. Such an unstable and escalated situation in the country led to the imposing of the arms embargo by the United Nations. The embargo, designed to decrease the flux of the arms in the country, ipso facto stops the government from supplying the army with sufficient weaponry. On the other hand, multiple evidence show that the armed groups keep getting their supplies through the illegal routes and schemes where foreign countries such as Chad are involved. The under-equipment of the national army has been one of the most pressing questions for the Central African government which prevents the government from stabilizing of the security situation in the country.
