Ex-CAR football boss on trial at the ICC

The former head of the CAR’s Football Federation last week pleaded not guilty to war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Inside World Football reports that Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona, who led a mainly Christian anti-Balaka group, and Alfred Yekatom are accused of co-ordinating attacks against the country's Muslim population in 2013-14. ‘I do not recognise myself in the charges brought against me. I am not guilty,’ Ngaïssona told Judge Bertram Schmitt. The former French colony was plunged into turmoil in 2013 when predominantly Muslim rebels from the Seleka group seized power in the majority Christian country. A band of mostly Christian militias, called the anti-Balaka, rose up to counter Seleka after then President François Bozizé was ousted. BBC News reports that French authorities arrested Ngaïssona in December 2018 and transferred him to the ICC in January 2019.

Human Rights Watch has documented war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Seleka and anti-Balaka forces since 2013. Some of the most egregious abuses occurred in the central regions of the CAR between late 2014 and April 2017. Human Rights Watch has also documented hundreds of cases of rape and sexual slavery by anti-Balaka groups and fighters from Seleka factions.