BANGUI, Central African Republic - Thousands of Muslims who tried to flee the violence in Central African Republic’s capital were turned back by peacekeepers Friday, as crowds of angry Christians shouted, “We’re going to kill you all.”
The convoy was turned back as France announced it would send 400 more soldiers to its former colony, which is mired in sectarian fighting.
The United Nations chief, meanwhile, warned Friday that in Central African Republic, “the very fabric of society, woven over generations, is being ripped apart.”
“We must live up to the promises made around this table to act swiftly and robustly in the face of such bloodshed,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council on Friday. “We cannot claim to care about mass atrocity crimes and then shrink from what it means to actually prevent them. “
In Bangui, some cars carried as many as 10 peopleas the convoy made its way through the capital, the second such mass exodus in a week. Christians gathered alongside the road to taunt the Muslims, many of whom have been targeted by murderous mobs in recent weeks. But the convoy was turned back because peacekeepers feared it would be attacked going through some volatile parts of Bangui.
The procession of vehicleswas halted in the Miskine neighborhood, where one vehicle tumbled into a ditch on the side of the road. On the orders of a Burundian captain, African peacekeepers went vehicle-to-vehicle instructing everyone to return to a local mosque, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene.
Peacekeepers stopped the group before they passed through neighborhoods wherefresh fighting had broken out Friday. At least one person was killed there in a grenade attack by Christian militiamen, according to witnesses at a nearby mosque. French peacekeepers had to evacuate two other severely wounded people from an angry crowd that had set tires on fire and was shouting anti-Muslim and anti-French slogans.
Tens of thousands of Muslims have fled as Christian militiamen and crowds of angry civilians have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks. Muslims have been killed by mobs almost every day, and their bodies have been mutilated and dragged through the capital’s streets, despite the presence of peacekeepers.
Victims have been accused of supporting the Muslim Seleka government forced from power last month. The Seleka rebels cited economic and political grievances, not religious ideology, in overthrowing the president of a decade. However, they became deeply despised, and their armed fighters are accused of scores of human-rights abuses against the country’s Christian majority during their 10-month rule.
The violence against Muslims and their current exodus from Central African Republic is tantamount to “ethnic cleansing,”according to warnings issued earlier this week by a top U.N. official and Amnesty International. The head of the French mission in Central African Republic has called the Christian militiamen an “enemies of the peace,” even though they started out as a way to protect Christians against the attacks by Muslim rebels.
Before the crisis, Muslims made up about 15 percent of Central African Republic’s 4.6 million people. Most of the displaced Muslims have gone to Chad, a neighboring country that is predominantly Muslim and whose military has provided armed guards for departing convoys.
Outside the capital, an untold number of other Muslims have been slain. Amnesty International on Friday said its researchers found an 11-yearold girl alive among scores of bodies in a remote village west of the capital. Her parents were among the 20 people killed in an attack there several days ago, the rights group said.
“The girl was crouching in a corner in an abandoned, ransacked house,” said Donatella Rovera, senior crisis response Adviser at Amnesty International. “She was terrified and could barely speak. She had been hiding there since the massacre, four days before.”
Other Muslims remain in hiding in other communities under the control of Christian militiamen, some seeking refuge inside churches offering protection. Nearly 1,000 people - mostly Muslims - are under threat in the southwestern town of Carnot, according to Doctors Without Borders.
In early December, France strengthened its presence in its former colony to 1,600 troops, who are joined by nearly 6,000 African peacekeepers. On Friday, France announced that it is increasing the number of its troops on the ground in Central African Republic by 400 for a total of 2,000.
Information for this article was contributed by Edith M. Lederer, Sylvie Corbet and Hippolyte Marboua of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 7 on 02/15/2014