Central African Republic: Human Rights Watch points to gray areas in the Ngaïkosset case
Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director of Human Rights Watch in Bangui on September 14, 2020 © C. Valade / RFI
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2 min
Former rebel leader Eugene Baret Ngaïkosset was indicted on Friday September 10 with crimes against Humanity by the Special Criminal Court (CPS) in Bangui.
“
An important step for justice
” and in the fight against impunity, according to the human rights NGO.
HRW investigated at length at the end of the 2000s into the crimes of which the then captain of François Bozizé's presidential guard is accused, and for which he inherited the sad nickname of “butcher of Paoua”.
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With our correspondent in Bangui,
Carol Valade
The story of Eugène Ngaïkosset is a story of violence.
First as François Bozizé's untouchable lieutenant in charge of putting down the rebellion in the north of the country in the early 2000s, at the cost of a very heavy toll among civilians, then documented by Human Rights Watch, including Lewis Mudge is the director for Central Africa.
“
His troops, as well as Ngaïkosset himself, committed murders of civilians, burned houses, they pushed civilians to go into the bush.
They punished civilians suspected of being close to the rebels.
"
When Bozizé fell, Ngaïkosset, placed under United Nations and then US Treasury sanctions, fled before being arrested in 2015 in neighboring Congo. Transferred to Bangui, he manages to escape in circumstances not yet clarified. “
The doors were opened by someone. We want to know how he escaped and who gave him a hand to escape.
"
Ngaïkosset takes up arms again at the head of an anti-balaka group, he continues to sow terror and desolation this time as a rebel, but perhaps not without help.
“
He was well protected by the leaders and maybe by the current leaders here in CAR.
How can someone with an arrest warrant issued in 2014 continue to benefit from his salary as Faca until at least 2018
?
"
The first trials of the Special Criminal Court for the Central African Republic should begin before the end of the year.
Many shadows will still have to be cleared up.
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To read also: Central African Republic: the anti-balaka leader Eugène Ngaïkosset arrested
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Central African Republic