Central African Republic

The Central African Republic's Special Criminal Court should intensify investigations and urgently recruit additional staff to deliver justice for war crimes and other serious offenses, Human Rights Watch said today. The new court is operating in a tremendously difficult setting after years of brutal conflict and insecurity in the country and needs greater government and international support.

An independent expert warns an agreement to restore peace and reconciliation in the Central African Republic is at risk because of violations by some of the signatories to the accord. The expert submitted her report Wednesday to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Cameroon says only a tiny fraction of the 285,000 Central African Republic refugees in the country have agreed to return to the CAR. Despite a February peace deal and months of negotiations with Cameroon and the United Nations refugee agency, refugees say they do not feel safe enough to return home.

Central African Republic's Special Criminal Court is deciding which cases it will begin hearing, eight months after its inauguration in Bangui. The cases include human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law – including war crimes and genocide – committed since 2003.

Although the Government of the Central African Republic (CAR), armed groups and civil society representatives are all taking part in the process that followed the signing of a deal signed in February, civilians continue to suffer daily acts of violence, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Thursday.

A deal to end six years of war in the Central African Republic could come unglued if not strengthened. The government should hold signatory armed groups accountable to criteria for improved behaviour and back local peace initiatives. Neighbours should push armed groups to cease provocations.

Peacekeepiong forces have reinforced security to thwart deadly attacks west of the Central African Republic (CAR) where 34 civilians were recently killed.

Russia will in the near future send 30 military personnel to Central African Republic as part of a United Nations mission to help stabilise the country, Interfax news agency quoted a Russian foreign ministry official as saying.

More than 50 people were reportedly killed in an attack by an armed group on several villages in the Central African Republic's (CAR) volatile northwest near the border with Chad, the United Nations said on Thursday. … The government issued an ultimatum to the leader of an armed rebel group known as 3R - which initially formed in 2015 to protect the minority Puehl population from attacks by mostly Christian Anti-balaka militias - calling on him to hand over those responsible.