Central
African Republic: Chadian army attacks, burns border villages -
"Civilians in
Peril in Northwestern CAR"
New York, March 19, 2008,
www.hrw.org —The
Chadian army has launched numerous cross-border raids on villages in
northwestern Central African Republic (CAR) in recent weeks, killing civilians,
burning villages, and stealing cattle, Human Rights Watch said today.
Since January 2008, Human Rights
Watch researchers documented at least five separate cross-border attacks on
Central African border villages, mostly between Markounda and Maitoukoulou in
the northwestern part of the country. Chadian army troops appear to be acting in
support of CAR and Chadian cattle herders known as Peuhls, at odds with local
CAR farmers trying to protect their crops. The worst violence occurred on
February
More than 1000 people have been
internally displaced or have been forced to flee across the border into southern
Chad. The internally displaced live in dire conditions in Maitoukoulou camps,
and in fear of further attacks, Human Rights Watch has found.
'The people in the northern part of
CAR are getting it form all directions. They've been attacked by rebel groups,
bandits, their own army and now the Chadian army,,' said Georgette Gagnon,
Africa Director at Human Rights Watch. 'These deadly incursions by the Chadian
army further destabilize an already precarious region.'
CAR local farmers and nomadic Peuhl
herders driving their cattle south from Chad during the dry season regularly
clash over crop destruction by cattle and access to grazing and water sources.
Because of the widespread insecurity in the region, the CAR authorities no
longer play a prominent role in resolving these conflicts, and armed groups are
increasingly involved in the clashes.
Local farmers told Human Rights
Watch that in late 2007, they joined with CAR anti-government rebels in the
region, the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD), to keep Peuhl
herders off their lands. Clashes erupted in Katogo, Batangafo and Bakassa
between the Peuhls and the farmer-supported APRD. In response, the Peuhl
apparently convinced the Chadian authorities to intervene on their behalf. The
first incursions by the Chadian army took place in mid-January in the village of
Sabo, followed by increasingly intense attacks on Dokabi, Bele and Daga on the
Markounda-Maitoukoulou road, as well as Bedaya Two and Bebingui, north of Paoua,
in mid-February.
The clashes intensified on February
29, when marked Chadian military vehicles unloaded soldiers inside CAR, who then
crossed the Ouham River on foot and on horseback into the village of Silambi.
Together with Peuhl herders, the Chadian soldiers entered the town around
Eyewitnesses and village officials
told Human Rights Watch that the same day the attackers destroyed the next
villages they crossed: Maikoyo, Ngartubam, Maissoulo Two, Dawala, and Tira. In
each village, they repeated their scorched earth tactics. By mid-morning, they
had destroyed all these villages except part of Tira, where they rested until
mid-afternoon. They detained five residents to do chores such as fetching water,
and slaughtering and cooking goats. The three detained men and two women were
whipped and beaten by the soldiers. One 40-year-old woman who was among the
detainees described to Human Rights Watch researchers how the soldiers forced
her to burn her own house, as well as those of her husband and her son. She
refused, but they whipped her until she agreed to participate.
In all, four people were killed
during the February 29 attacks and at least four others wounded. Of the wounded,
one died later that day. Another wounded was taken to Chad by the attackers and
eventually released for a ransom of 15,000 CFA (about $35). A third man was
taken by the villagers to a medical clinic in Gon, Chad, and was later abducted
by the Chadian army. His family went to the nearest Chadian military base, in
Moïssala, to find him, but he remains missing and there are grave concerns about
his well-being.
It remains unclear whether the
attacks by the Chadian army have been approved and coordinated with the CAR
authorities, who have in previous years allowed the Chadian army to operate
within the border region. Since the raids were partially in retaliation against
the rebel APRD group, evidence suggests that the CAR authorities may have
authorized the attacks. One of the villages attacked, Bebingui, is the hometown
of APRD spokesperson Laurent Djim Weil.
Between 2005 and 2007, the security
forces of the Central African Republic, particularly the elite Presidential
Guard, carried out massive abuses against the civilian population of
northwestern CAR, executing hundreds of civilians and burning down an estimated
10,000 homes in an abusive counterinsurgency campaign against the APRD. In
September 2007, Human Rights Watch published a detailed report, State of
Anarchy, documenting these killings and village burnings. The CAR authorities
withdrew the abusive Presidential Guards from northwestern CAR in late 2007,
leading to a dramatic drop in executions and other abuses.
'The security situation for
civilians in northwestern CAR remains very fragile,' said Gagnon. 'The Chad
government needs to immediately instruct its troops not to participate in these
attacks. The victims also deserve accountability for these attacks and the abuse
they sustained.'
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