Central African Republic 'facing catastrophe' if Khartoum peace talks fail: Aid group

Norwegian diplomat Jan Egeland has warned of disaster if Central African Republic's warring parties do not make progress in upcoming talks hosted by Sudan.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

23 January, 2019

Jan Egeland said Central African Republic is 'facing the abyss' [AFP]

Central African Republic is headed for a catastrophe if upcoming peace talks in Sudan fail, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council warned on Tuesday.

Jan Egeland made the stark warning as parties to the conflict prepare to meet for peace talks in Khartoum on Thursday.

"Repeated cycles of violence ravaging one of the world's poorest nations have pushed people´s resistance to breaking point. The country is facing the abyss, unless its leaders and armed groups are delivering on people´s hope for peace," said Egeland, who recently visited the country.

Central African Republic, a landlocked country bordering Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo, has faced interreligious and intercommunal fighting since 2013. Violence has intensified and spread in recent months.

On Wednesday, the head of Central African Republic's football federation was sent to the International Criminal Court to face allegations of leading a mainly Christian militia that targeted Muslims in 2014.

Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona was transferred to the court on Wednesday from France, where he was arrested last month on an ICC warrant.

Prosecutors say Ngaissona was the most senior leader of a militia known as anti-Balaka in 2014 when it was accused of crimes including murder and rape of Muslims in fighting that broke out the previous year when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui.

The violence left thousands dead and displaced hundreds of thousands more.