Uprooted Muslims trapped in CAR
Human Rights Watch says hundreds are trapped and living in deplorable conditions in enclaves after fleeing violence.
Hundreds of Muslims are "trapped" and living in "deplorable conditions" in enclaves in western parts of the Central African Republic, Human Rights Watch has said.
The international rights organisation said in a damning report released on Monday, that displaced Muslim residents, forced to escape the conflict in other parts of CAR over the past 12 months, were now trapped in camps in the western half of the country, living in abysmal conditions and under constant duress.
"Those trapped in some of the enclaves face a grim choice: leave and face possible attack from anti-balaka fighters, or stay and die from hunger and disease," Lewis Mudge, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in the report.
"While there are good reasons to ensure that the country’s Muslim population does not diminish further, under the current circumstances, the government’s policy of no evacuations is absolutely indefensible."
HRW said that both the interim government and the United Nations peacekeepers were failing to provide adequate security but were also blocking the displaced from fleeing abroad.
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