Gunmen release CAR sports minister after kidnapping
Gunmen have released the minister of youth, sports, arts and culture of the Central African Republic (CAR), more than two weeks after his abduction in the conflict-ridden and highly volatile country.
Family members confirmed on Wednesday that Armel Mingatoloum Sayo had been freed overnight, but the circumstances of his release remained unclear.
Sayo and his wife were on their way back home from church on January 25, when their car was accosted in Galabadja neighborhood of the capital, Bangui.
The assailants, believed to be members of the Christian anti-Balaka militant group, took the minister out of his car, and sped off in an unmarked taxi.
War crimes in Central African Republic
UN rights investigators have voiced alarm over an increasing number of war crimes being committed in CAR, calling for a “truly international” tribunal to probe such crimes in the strife-torn country.
On January 21, Fatimata M’Baye and Philip Alston, two members of the International Commission of Inquiry on CAR, called for an international panel of judges to objectively probe and prosecute those who perpetrate such heinous crimes.
CAR turmoil
CAR descended into chaos and sectarian violence in 2013, after Christian anti-balaka militant group turned their guns on Muslim Seleka fighters to dominate the crisis-stricken country’s politics and vast mineral resources.
In an attempt to restore peace and stability to the former French colony, a transitional government headed by Catherine Samba Panza was formed at the end of August 2014, including members from different political parties as well as from Seleka and anti-balaka.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says nearly one million people have been displaced in CAR since the outbreak of the violence.
Rights groups have on occasions reported that Muslims in the war-torn country “are being butchered” at the hands of Christian militia forces.
MP/KA/SS
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