'Seeds of genocide' in Central African Republic, U.N. warns中央アフリカ大量虐殺の恐れ

(Reuters) - A senior U.N. official warned on Thursday of the risk of genocide in Central African Republic without a more robust international response to communal bloodshed in which at least eight more people were killed overnight.

The former French colony descended into chaos after a mostly Muslim rebel coalition, Seleka, seized power in March, unleashing a wave of killings and looting that sparked revenge attacks by Christian militia known as "anti-balaka" (anti-machete).

More than a million people have been displaced by the violence since Seleka installed their leader Michel Djotodia as interim president. Over 1,000 people were killed last month alone in the capital Bangui, prompting neighboring countries to evacuate more than 30,000 of their citizens.

There has been relative calm since Djotodia resigned last week under intense international pressure, but sporadic violence has persisted in Bangui. On Thursday, a spokesman for a 15,000-strong group of anti-balaka criticized the interim government and threatened a return to violence if it was not overhauled.

"If there is no solution to this, we always have our machetes which we have not yet handed in," the spokesman, Sebastien Wenezoui, told Reuters at a base in Boeing, northern Bangui, flanked by around 20 militiamen armed with knives, machetes and Kalashnikovs.

His group wants the country's transitional assembly (CNT) to be reworked to boost the presence of the anti-balaka and reduce the number of Seleka representatives. It plans a march in Bangui on Friday to try to stop the appointment of a new interim president, he added.

The CNT is due to vote on the new head on January 20, its vice president Lea Koyassoum Doumta said on Thursday.

SEEDS OF GENOCIDE

Central African Republic is designated by the United Nations as one of the top three global humanitarian emergencies, along with Syria and the Philippines. But a U.N. appeal has received only 6 percent of a $247 million target.

Returning from a five-day trip to the country, a U.N. official said the crisis was foreseeable and stemmed from many years of international neglect of the chaotic country.

"The elements are there, the seeds are there, for a genocide," John Ging, director of operations for the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a news conference in Geneva. "It has all the elements that we have seen elsewhere, in places like Rwanda and Bosnia."

Ging said the country amounted to little more than a territory on a map, without state infrastructure and functioning security forces. He said French and African Union (AU) peacekeepers were having a positive effect but were stretched to their limits.

"Central African Republic has to move up the priority list," he said. "However desperate and alarming the situation might be right now, it can be turned around very quickly."

France hurriedly sent some 1,600 troops to its former colony in December. The deployment of Rwandan troops, the first of whom arrived aboard a U.S. military aircraft on Thursday, will increase the AU contingent to more than 5,000 peacekeepers this month.

Many say the bloodshed has little to do with religion, in a nation where Muslims and Christians long lived in peace. Instead, they blame a political battle for control over natural resources in one of Africa's weakest states, split along ethnic lines and worsened by foreign meddling.

Eight people were killed in Bangui late on Wednesday, witnesses said.

French troops threw two stun grenades after being encircled by a hostile crowd in northern Bangui while on patrol on Wednesday, army spokesman Colonel Gilles Jaron said. The troops had earlier seen bodies in the same neighborhood.

In another sign of tensions, hundreds of angry residents surrounded a convoy of Chadian Muslims fleeing the country. They shouted "go home" and "assassins". Some in the crowd tried to loot and set fire to one vehicle but were prevented by AU peacekeepers, who fired warning shots to disperse them.

The commander of French forces, General Francisco Soriano, told a video conference in Paris the security situation was improving, but still "extremely complicated and very volatile."

(Additional reporting by Paul-Marin Ngoupana and Emmanuel Braun in Bangui; John Irish in Paris; Writing by Bate Felix and Emma Farge; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)


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【AFP＝時事】国連（UN）は16日、イスラム教徒とキリスト教徒の宗教間対立が深刻化している中央アフリカ情勢について、

ジェノサイド（大量虐殺）に発展する恐れがあると警鐘を鳴らした。

中央アフリカ、大統領辞任後に暴力行為が続発

　同国では、反体制勢力の指導者から大統領に転じたミシェル・ジョトディア（Michel Djotodia）暫定大統領が辞任し、

暫定議会に相当する国家移行評議会（CNT）が新大統領を20日に選出する準備に着手しているが、国内では暴力行為が治まらずにいる。

　こうした中、中央アフリカを5日間にわたって訪問した国連人道問題調整事務所（OCHA）のジョン・ギング（John Ging）氏は16日、

スイス・ジュネーブ（Geneva）で記者会見し、中央アフリカ情勢には「ルワンダやボスニアなどで見られたあらゆる要素が備わっている。

ジェノサイドの要素があることに疑いはない」と警告。残虐行為が日常化し、全国民に恐怖がまん延していると訴えた。

　中央アフリカでは、昨年3月にイスラム教系の武装勢力連合「セレカ（Seleka）」がクーデターで政権を掌握した後、

宗教間の衝突が激化し混乱が広がっている。米仏や中央アフリカ支援国際ミッション（MISCA）参加国の部隊が治安回復に努めているが、

フランス軍が展開する北部の首都バンギ（Bangui）では緊張が高まっており、巡回中の仏軍兵士が市民に発砲したとの苦情も住民から出ている。

　恐慌状態に陥ったイスラム系住民たちは、隣国チャドに脱出しようと北部の国境に殺到している。

現地で取材するAFP記者も、避難民を乗せMISCAに参加するチャド軍に護衛された大型トラック数十台を目撃した。

　ギング氏は、「この国（中央アフリカ）は政治的に崩壊している。公共サービスも、

医療から教育、社会福祉まで何もかもが破綻状態だ」と指摘。現状では、

長く共存してきたイスラム教系とキリスト教系の住民同士の衝突は宗教間紛争にまで至ってはいないが、「その可能性はある」と警告した。

　国連によると、中央アフリカでは殺りくやレイプ、略奪行為が横行し、

人口約460万人の約2割が国内避難民や難民となっている。【翻訳編集】 AFPBB News


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