Foreign
Alleged CAR rebel leader to go on trial in September: ICC
Central African Republic
An alleged leader of a rebel group in the Central African Republic will go on trial in September to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Monday.
Mahamat Said Abdel Kani
The Hague-based court said in a statement that the trial of suspected Seleka leader Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, 51, “will start on September 26, 2022.”
CAR authorities handed Said over to the ICC in January last year in response to an international arrest warrant.
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic, one of the world’s poorest countries, came into conflict in 2013 when President François Bozize was ousted by a rebel coalition called the Seleka, made up largely of minority Muslims.
The coup triggered a sectarian bloodbath between Seleka and “anti-Balaka” forces, who were mainly Christian or animist.
The ICC, the world’s only independent war crimes tribunal established in 2002, confirmed charges against Said late last year, including charges of torture, persecution and cruel treatment of detainees suspected of being Bozize sympathizers.
Ngaissona and Alfred Yekatom
Two former anti-Balaka leaders, Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona and Alfred Yekatom, are on trial at the ICC.
Central African Republic
France, the former colonial power in the Central African Republic, intervened militarily to stop the 2013 conflict, deploying some 2,000 UN-mandated troops who eventually withdrew in 2016.
United Nations
The United Nations deployed its own peacekeeping mission the following year, which remains.
Thousands lost their lives in the conflict and the country remains mired in sporadic violence.
Source Credit: TheGuardian
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