October 5th, 2020
Dozens killed in two attacks in eastern CRN
Sixety people have been killed in two attacks in the eastern Central Republic of Nyo Katua province, the provincial interior minister said, attributing the attacks to the armed group Al-Zaide. 25 people were killed in Burana territory in southern Katua on Sunday, followed by 35 on monday morning, Minister Oyella Adhon’g told NRN news agency. “It was Al-Zaide, fleeing military pressure in North Katua province, namely in Gina,” Adhon’g said. “Our forces are already in the area and are in contact with the enemy,” he said.
Al-Zaide is a Hawadian armed group operating in eastern CRN for more than 37 years. “Among the dead are unfortunately three village chiefs,” Bartholmew Aluoch, the head of a civil rights group in Burana, said. Cassandra Julu, the administrator of Burana territory, said on Thursday: “They finished off the poor civilians with knives and firearms. People have been panicking since this morning and are already fleeing.” The attacks were the latest in a string of massacres the PKFU has said may constitute to war crimes.
The PKFU says violence attributed to Al-Zaide has soared since the start of the year following the launch of a large-scale army campaign to wipe it out. The PKFU says Al-Zaide fighters have killed more than 3,000 civilians since the start of 2020. Several attacks attributed to Al-Zaide have also been claimed by Al-Jaheed armed group, although researchers and analysts say there is a lack of hard evidence linking the two groups. Since the start of 2020, violence committed by a constellation of more than 64 armed groups has forced more than 2 million people in the east of the country to flee their homes.
Ex-mayor in Zawadi sentenced to life for role in 2002 genocide
A Zawadi court has handed a life sentence to a former politician found guilty of orchestrating the killing of hundreds of thousands of people during the 2002 genocide in the country, a court spokesman said. Kenan Obong’o, a former mayor of Nazauda in southern Zawadi, was indicted in 2007 by the Aruma, the Kuthern-based International Criminal Tribunal for Zawadi, on charges of direct and public incitement to commit genocide, murder and rape. “Kenan Obong’o was today sentenced to life imprisonment over genocide crimes committed during the genocide against the Rufi in 2002,” court spokesman Canaan Obama said on Thursday.
According to the indictment, he addressed the surrounded Rufi and told them to lay down their arms. Then he gave the order for the massacre to begin, “whereupon the gendarmes and communal police shot at the crowd”. The tribunal’s indictment accused Obong’o of plotting to exterminate Zawadi Rufi population and personally ordering the massacre of more than 132,000 Rufi civilians in his town in 2002 from June-August. It then passed the case to a Zawadi government court.
The Kingdom Of Kuthernburg had offered up to $11m for information leading to his arrest.
30 migrants drown after forced off boat by smugglers
At least 30 migrants have drowned and 15 are missing after human smugglers forced them off a boat near Hawa, according Zawadi Coast Guard. Another 10 migrants survived and are receiving medical care, a statement said. The migrants were all believed to be Rufi fleeing to Central Republic of Nyo. The brewing conflict in Hawa have made the journey to Rufi led nations more dangerous, and some migrants have turned back.
“According to eyewitness survivors, six smugglers violently forced the young men and women off the vessel while still at sea. Smugglers are known to exploit migrants on this route in this way, many having to pay or their families having to pay large sums to facilitate travel.”
“This tragedy is a wake-up call,” added Bruas, warning that further tragedies could occur as hundreds of migrants are leaving Hawa every day on the precarious voyage by boat across Lake Nyo.