On Friday, International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that they will be launching a preliminary investigation on war crimes against humanity that could have happened in the Central African Republic. The Guardian quoted Bensouda in the report, who said that the situation for civilians in the African region had gone worse since September 2012, and that she in her possession reports on extreme brutality exerted to victims by various groups.
The Guardian said the Central African Republic is a member of the Hague-based ICC. ICC has been founded in 2002 to investigate and prosecute atrocities if member states are not able or are not willing to do so themselves.
The UK newspaper said clashes between Christian and Muslim militias were already the subject of an earlier investigation before 2004, also by Bensouda's office. The Independent quoted Human Rights Watch's emergencies director Peter Bouckaert, who has been extending help to Muslims in the region under the peacekeepers' guard, said about the latest violence that erupted in the capital of Bangui, "It really is a horrific situation. All over Bangui, entire Muslim neighborhoods are being destroyed and emptied."
Since March of last year, fighting in the Central African Republic has gone worse and has taken on a sectarian nature when an agreement to maintain peace and share powers between Muslim rebels and the previous government in the country had broken down.
According to the United Nations high commissioner for refugees in December of last year, over 600 people had been killed due to the extreme violence in the country, with a million people displaced. Moreover, the UN commissioner also said that the Central African Republic is in danger of spinning into genocide, or the deliberate and systematic destruction of a tribe or group in whole and part.
Referring to the investigation, Bensouda said, "(The investigation will include) hundreds of killings, acts of rape and sexual slavery, destruction of property, pillaging, torture, forced displacement and recruitment and use of children in hostilities. In many incidents, victims appear to have been deliberately targeted on religious grounds".
