Day: October 27, 2021

The U.N. refugee agency reports it has restarted a voluntary repatriation operation for thousands of refugees from the Central African Republic who were living in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Over the past two years, the U.N. refugee agency has helped more than 5,000 refugees return from Congo to the Central African Republic. The voluntary operation, which has been interrupted on two occasions, resumed on Friday.

The program was first halted in March 2020 when both countries closed their borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The second interruption occurred last December when violence surrounding the C.A.R. presidential elections sent an estimated 92,000 refugees fleeing into the DRC.

UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo says a first group of 250 refugees left Mole camp to Zongo city in the northwestern DRC last Friday.

She says a second group of 250 people left the camp on Tuesday morning. Later in the day, she says a 20-minute boat ride will ferry the refugees across the Ubangi River to Bangui, the C.A.R. capital.

“People are only returning to areas where security has improved in the past six months, such as Bangui and the prefectures of Ombella Mpoko and Lobaye. Most of those set to return fled their homes because of violence in 2013. UNHCR and partners will also soon organize voluntary repatriation flights for refugees living in Inke camp in North Ubangi province. Air transport is necessary due to the distances and poor roads,” Mantoo said.

The voluntary repatriation began in November 2019. That followed the signing of a Tripartite agreement between the C.A.R. and DRC in July. Mantoo says nearly 10,000 refugees in three camps hosting them have signed up for voluntary repatriation.

“UNHCR is providing assistance to the returning refugees and together with partners is working on reintegration projects in C.A.R., including in education and agriculture. Some 206,346 C.A.R. refugees live in camps and with host communities in DRC’s three provinces. And UNHCR and partners plan to assist 6,500 of them to return this year,” Mantoo said.

Since violence between armed groups erupted in 2013, more than 680,000 refugees and asylum seekers have fled to Cameroon, the DRC, the Republic of the Congo, and Chad. About a third are being hosted in DRC. Another 630,000 people are displaced within Central African Republic.

Source: Voice of America

Once commonplace, abuses by state security forces against civilians in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have dropped sharply in the previous year, according to rights groups.

Boubacar, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, said last year unidentified gunmen came to his home at night, shot and wounded his wife and son, then killed his brother.

The next day, on doctors’ orders, he traveled to Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, for medical treatment to save his son’s injured hand from amputation.

While he was away, he said, Burkinabe security forces kidnapped two of his brothers. Neighbors, he said, identified the forces. Since then, the family has had no word and doesn’t know if the two are alive or dead.

Abuses by security forces in the Sahel conflict, where Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger battle terror groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida, were once common.

Last year, the number of civilian fatalities caused by security forces was approaching those caused by terror groups.

Data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, ACLED, shows the number of civilian fatalities caused by security forces has fallen dramatically in the last year to Oct. 1, compared with the previous year.

They have dropped by 77% in Burkina Faso, 74% in Mali, and 65% in Niger.

Rights groups say they have also observed the change and suggest why it might have occurred.

“We believe that there’s a combination of factors,” said Corrine Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “First has been reporting by human rights groups, by journalists, as well as pressure from the international community.”

Analysts say there could be other factors at play, including the outsourcing of military activities to government-backed militias, among other things.

“Over this period, the security situation in the Sahel has continued to get worse,” said the European Council on Foreign Relations’s Andrew Lebovich. “And so, I think one other possible explanation is that regional security forces are doing somewhat less patrolling and are doing somewhat fewer operations where they’re actually interacting with populations in rural areas, especially.”

The Burkinabe army says accusations of abuse by security forces have not been proven. In a statement to VOA, it said respect for human rights is a major concern for the national armed forces and is part of the basic education for soldiers.

But the consequences of the atrocities are not going away.

“The bad news is there have not been investigations, much less, justice and accountability,” said Human Rights Watch’s Dufka.

Boubacar said trying to seek justice from the same authorities he believes committed crimes would be pointless.

He said he can’t see how there would be a positive outcome, even if he went to court, so he decided to let matters lie.

But he still wants to know what happened to his brothers.

Source: Voice of America