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“It’s a scene of absolute brutality”
Peter Bouckaert, Emergency Director of Human Rights Watch, has just returned from the Central African Republic.
Peter, along with his HRW team, has given this program exclusive footage documenting horrific violence, destruction and the mass exodus of Muslims from the country which the United Nations says amounts to “ethnic cleansing”.
Peter Bouckaert told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour “the Muslim population of the Central African Republic is facing an unprecedented wave of violence”.
“We were in the country for just over three weeks and personally witnessed 12 lynching’s or attempted lynching’s… it’s a scene of absolute brutality in the Central African Republic at the moment,” he says.
The Central African Republic was plunged into chaos last year after a coalition of mostly Muslim rebels dubbed ‘Seleka’ ousted president Francois Bozize.
They have since been forced out of power but Christian militias known as the anti-balaka have been allowed to fill the power vacuum.
Peter Bouckaert says more peacekeeping troops are needed on the ground.
“The small presence of the African peacekeepers and the French peacekeepers is simply not enough to stop the violence. We have gone out to many of these communities and people are really desperate to stop these attacks… We need a much larger peacekeeping presence, hopefully a full UN peacekeeping mission so this violence can stop and the Muslim community can continue to live in this country where they have lived for generations and generations. It will take a much greater international effort than what is underway at the moment”.
Click above to watch Amanpour’s interview with Peter Bouckaert.
@camanpour on Twitter
Religion violence in Africa. Boko Haram are killing innocent Christians in Nigeria while Christians are killing innocent Muslims in CAR.
Boko haram is a terrorist group, who are killing both muslims and christians u idiot. while in CAR the whole christians are wanna to commit ethnic cleansing against muslim minority, its not about extremist christians groups.
That is why i do love my country Sierra Leone, even though we are not economically strong, but we are some how democratic and have religious tolerance. You guyz in CAR what do u think u are doing? Killing innocent people due to lack of understanding. I am advising you to follow the lead of my country Religiously
WHERE ARE the UN peace forces.....?!!
Oh right, NONE of their business when it's Muslims holocaust !
Where are the rich muslim countries from Gulf and around? Cant they help their brothers in need? When other countries intervene they are labelled infidels on holy land. take a stand!
i do agree with ur comment, but not the matter of fact cuz if muslim rich people as u mentioned attempted to help them, definitely the world and anti-islamic media would propagandize that muslims around the world helping muslims in CAR to eliminate Christians. so to avoid this UN peacekeepers must have to stop this constant and continually brutality against muslim minority.
Thanks john, i appreciate your comment (like).
its a terrible situation in CAR.
Muslim terrorists should be expelled.
Muslim terrorists!
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