DDHK News, Central Africa - Amnesty International says peacekeeping forces have failed to prevent ethnic cleansing of Muslims in the Central African Republic. The international human rights organization said the attacks by Christian militias caused "Muslims to leave their places of origin on an unprecedented scale".
The Muslim population of the Central African Republic has come under attack after a mainly Muslim Seleka rebel force seized power last year.
They are accused of murdering and raping Christians and destroying Christian villages.
The Seleka leader resigned in January but the move failed to quell violence.
Christian militias calling themselves self-defense or anti-retaliatory forces took revenge, forcing Muslim residents to flee Bangui and other cities.
Amnesty International said some international peacekeepers "tacitly agreed that violence in certain cases allowed the anti-balaka militias to fill the power vacuum left by the Seleka group."
Meanwhile the World Food Program said the first plane carrying aid had arrived in Bangui.
The plane carried 82 rice imported from Cameroon. But more than one person needs food assistance. The fighting in the Central African Republic made it difficult to get aid overland.
Previously, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said sectarian violence could divide the country into Muslim and Christian areas.
Christian Militia Destroys Mosques
Moving from one area to another, Christian mobs have targeted Muslim places of worship in Central Africa, killing Muslims and looting their belongings.
"Of the 36 mosques that originally stood in Bangui, today, they are left with less than ten," Imam Oumar Kobine Layama, a leader of the Muslim community in Central Africa, told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday February 12th. so reports onislam.net.
Over the last few weeks, thousands of terrified civilian Muslims have fled from murder, looting and harassment by armed militias originating from the anti-Balaka militia.
Despite an increase in attacks targeting mosques, some Central African Muslims are finding the mosque in the Kilometer 5 district as the remaining shelter for thousands of Muslims.
"We used to live in harmony with Christians in this country for years," Marriam, an elderly woman who took shelter in a mosque at Kilometer 5, told Anadolu Agency.
“We don't know who poisoned their minds to start this murder. This is our country, but they told us to leave or they will kill us, ”added Marriam, crying.
The central mosque in Kilometer 5 district serves as a refugee facility where children play, women cook and men patrol to ensure safety. (bbc.co.uk/onislam.net/localhost/project/personal/ddhongkong.org/ddhongkong.org ).*
