Violence against civilians in the Central African Republic (CAR) is reaching levels that have not been witnessed since the height of its years-long conflict, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said.
“The Central African Republic is spiralling into levels of violence that have not been seen since the peak of the conflict in 2014,” said MSF representative Emmanuel Lampaert.
The medical humanitarian organisation released a statement late on Wednesday saying the violence against CAR’s civilians includes summary executions and mutilations, adding that mutilated bodies were left exposed to terrorise the people.
“Our teams have witnessed summary executions and have found mutilated bodies left exposed to terrorise populations,” Rene Colgo, the deputy head of MSF’s mission in CAR, said in the statement.
The CAR descended into chaos in 2013 following the ouster of the then-president Francois Bozize by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance, which then apsrked reprisals from Christian militias.
Religion has played a waning role as splinter groups now clash over control of territory and resources.
Recent violence has been concentrated in four prefectures in the centre and east, where the government and a 13,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping mission have struggled to contain the bloodshed, the medical organization said.
The fighting is now even experiences in parts of the country that were previously considered stable, with rival militia groups battling to control areas with gold and diamond mines.
Some 100,000 people were displaced between September 2016 and February 2017 amid the renewed clashes, according to the United Nations, and MSF is now treating trauma victims at clinics intended to provide healthcare to rural communities.
The United States on Wednesday imposed financial sanctions against two militia leaders – one a Muslim rebel chief and the other a Christian militia leader – accused of collaborating on plans to destabilise CAR.
