In CAR,
Chad Soldiers
Killed 30
Civilians, Unprovoked,
OHCHR Says
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
4 -- The day
after Chad
announced it
will
pull its
troops out of
the Central
African
Republic
after being
accused of
abuse and even
murder there,
the UN
Office of the
High Commissioner
for Human
Rights
issued a damning
report.
The shooting
up of a market
in Bangui was
unprovoked and
killed 30. The
full text is
below.
When
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq once
again on April
3 about the
Chadian
"peacekeepers,"
he referred
all questions
to the African
Union / MISCA
-- despite
Ban's public
statements
about CAR.
Inner
City Press asked,
"Chadians
soldiers
reportedly
killed
somewhere
between 8 and
30 civilians:
Has the UN
found out at
all whether
these Chadian
soldiers were
part of MISCA
or were they
part of some
other force?"
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq replied,
"it’s up to
MISCA to
follow up in
terms of
whether their
troops were
involved, so
you would need
to ask
the African
Union."
It must be
noted that
Ban's (or France's)
chief of UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
decided
to include
Chadian
soldiers in
the UN Mission
in Mali
MINUSMA
despite Chad
being on the
UN's own list
of child
soldier
recruiters.
Now what?
Here's what
the OHCHR put
out on April
4, 2014:
Spokesperson
for
the UN High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights: Rupert
Colville
Subject:
Central
African
Republic
We
have received
more detailed
information on
the incident
involving
Chadian
soldiers in
Bangui on
March 29,
following an
initial
investigation
carried out by
a human rights
team on the
ground.
Earlier
this
week, the team
from the Human
Rights and
Justice
Section of
BINUCA visited
two medical
centers (the
Hopital
Communautaire,
and
the Hopital
General) where
most of the
survivors are
being treated
and also
visited the
site where the
shooting took
place at PK
12, in
the North of
Bangui.
According
to
the
information
they have
collected so
far, on March
29, Chadian
national army
soldiers in a
convoy
consisting of
several
military
pick-ups
entered
Bangui, and
went to the
neighborhood
known as PK
12.
Several
sources told
the
investigating
team that they
believed the
Chadian force
had entered
Bangui to
extract
remaining
Chadians and
other Muslim
inhabitants,
in order to
save them from
further
attacks
by
anti-Balaka.
As
soon as the
convoy reached
the market
area in PK 12,
around 3:00
p.m., it
reportedly
opened fire on
the population
without any
provocation.
At the time,
the market was
full of
people,
including
many girls and
women buying
and selling
produce. As
panic-stricken
people fled in
all
directions,
the soldiers
allegedly
continued
firing
indiscriminately.
According
to
information
the human
rights team
has gathered
so far, it
seems
the Chadian
force’s action
was totally
disproportionate
as they
were shooting
in a crowded
market full of
unarmed
civilians.
According
to
the team’s
preliminary
findings,
around 30
people were
killed as
a result of
the shooting
and over 300
were seriously
injured,
including
children,
people with
disabilities,
pregnant women
and
elderly
people, as
they were less
able to run
for their
lives.
On
March 31, then
UNSC
President
Sylvie Lucas
told Inner
City Press
that she had
read the
reports, and
understood
that the
Chadians were
part of a team
to evacuate
other
Chadians.
We aim to have
more on this.
Watch this
site.
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