UN-Protected Camp Burned, Dozens Killed in Central African Republic

Seleka rebels killed at least 37 civilians, wounded 57, and forced thousands to flee when they razed a camp for displaced people in the Central African Republic on October 12, 2016. United Nations peacekeepers deployed outside the camp in the town of Kaga-Bandoro failed to halt the attack. Human Rights Watch interviewed 32 victims and witnesses in Kaga-Bandoro and in the country’s capital, Bangui, between October 14 and 21. They said that the mostly Muslim Seleka forces, possibly with assistance from Muslim civilians, shot, stabbed or burned to death the civilians, including at least four women, five children, three older people, and four people with disabilities. The casualty numbers are most likely higher because some victims were buried quickly. In addition to field research, Human Rights Watch, using satellite imagery analysis, identified at least 175 destroyed homes in the neighborhoods around the camp and 435 destroyed huts in the camp itself.