{{Segregating Muslims in Central African Republic to protect them from Christian militia shows the world’s failure to tackle a deepening sectarian crisis, a U.N. official said on Thursday as the United Nations scrambles to find thousands of peacekeepers.}}
The mainly Muslim Seleka seized power a year ago, perpetrating abuses on the majority Christian population that triggered waves of revenge attacks, leading to thousands of deaths and forcing about a million people to flee their homes.
Foreign troops have escorted thousands of Muslims to relative safety in the country’s north, while thousands more have fled to neighboring states.
Peacekeepers helped around 1,300 Muslims out of Bangui on Sunday, triggering looting and removing one of the last pockets of Muslims from the capital.
“It is a collective failure of the international community that we were not able to provide the security for people in their homes,” said John Ging, director of operations for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“If (the Muslims) stay they are likely to be killed. If they flee that’s not the solution,” he said. “The separation and segregation of communities in this country is not a solution for this country going forward.”
The United Nations has warned the crisis could spiral into a genocide in the resource-rich former French colony of 4.6 million people. Human rights officials say parts of the country have seen “religious cleansing.”
The violence has continued despite the presence of 2,000 French troops and some 5,600 African Union forces. Earlier this month the U.N. Security Council authorized a U.N. peacekeeping force of up to 10,000 troops and 1,800 police.
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