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Headlines : Human Rights'Ghost town' after attack on CAR
The Central African Republic remains one of the world’s worst, and least reported, human rights tragedies.
Perhaps that is partly due to the French role in such abuses. Rebels in the area are claiming that the destruction of Barao – unprecedented in UN experience – was due to aerial bombardment by French jets. French attacks in the region have been frequent in support of the CAR government – an ex-French colony.
Birao itself was targeted in December 2006.
[Posted By Szamko]Republished from BBC News
Almost all the residents of the north-eastern Central African Republic town of Birao have fled following clashes three weeks ago, the UN says.
UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator to the CAR, Toby Lanzer, said he was shocked at the scale of the destruction.
“Never before has the UN seen a town where 70% of houses have been torched,” he said following a visit.
CAR has accused neighbouring Sudan of backing the rebels and says attacks have been launched from Darfur.
The UN says that some 14,000 people have fled the town to live in the bush, while just 600 remain in their homes.
There are now some 250,000 displaced people in CAR – three times more than a year ago, the UN says.
Posted by Szamko
Just tries to tell the truth.
CAR refugees flee into Darfur after raid by French troops A raid by French paratroops on rebels in the Central African Republic (CAR) destroyed a town and forced 2,000 civilians to flee into neighbouring Darfur. (the Independent)
“We found a ghost town,” said Toby Lanzer, UN humanitarian affairs co-ordi-nator for CAR. “It was like Grozny or parts of Mogadishu. Seventy per cent of buildings were burnt and only about 600 civilians were left. They were in a dazed state. They have nothing…“We urgently need to carry out aerial reconnaissance to find out where the rest of the population has gone. We have traced 2,000 to camps in Darfur. That people should choose to flee into Darfur gives a measure of how terrified they must have been.’’
France has a defence agreement with CAR and practically runs the country’s army. It has previously argued that its operations are aimed at preventing the spread of the Darfur crisis…But the Birao operation, which began on 4 March, seems to have been ordered to evacuate 18 French soldiers stationed in the town since December.
Mirage F1 jets bombed rebel pick-up trucks and dozens of paratroops were airdropped into the combat zone.