Central African Republic News Article
Catholic
priests in the Central African Republic accuse UN of 'deliberately abandoning'
town to rebels
One Catholic priest in the Central African Republic (CAR) has accused United
Nations peacekeepers of "deliberately abandoning" his town and
leaving parishioners to be murdered by rebels.
"You were warned, but you
deliberately decided to abandon this town," said Father Jean-Alain Zembi,
rector of Zemio, on the nation's border with Congo.
"This community is being
sacrificed, and I will hold you responsible for all those dead and preparing to
die," he wrote on Facebook on 20 August.
The priest said at least 30
townspeople had been killed when armed groups attacked the police headquarters
and hospital, burning houses and stealing valuables.
He added that Moroccan troops from
the UN-backed military mission, MINUSCA, had initially tried to protect local
civilians, but had been unable to prevent "innocent women and children
being left to their sad fate."
Meanwhile, another Catholic priest,
Father Desire Kpangou, said the attackers wore turbans and spoke neither French
nor the local language, Sango, suggesting they had come from nearby Sudan.
"If you don't come soon to
disarm these people, we will have to organise confessions and a final Mass and
viaticum" - giving Communion to and anointing of someone approaching
death - "and prepare ourselves and the rest of the displaced people
here for the worst," Father Kpangou told UN forces on Facebook.
Aid organisations have reported
worsening violence throughout 2017 in the Central African Republic, one of the
world's poorest countries. Violence is mainly between armed remnants of Seleka,
a Muslim-dominated rebel movement that briefly seized power in 2013, and a
mainly Christian militia, Anti-Balaka.
In a 19 August statement, UN
officials announced a new humanitarian program, after dozens of civilians died
in attacks in four cities.
France's Le Monde daily reported on
21 August that 80 percent of the country was believed to be under control of
armed gangs, including "a myriad of local militias and mercenaries from
neighbouring states."
Father Zembi told Agence
France-Presse on 10 August that his town, 625 miles from the capital, Bangui,
had been "ablaze" since June 28, when armed gangs overran it, cutting
telephone lines and forcing half of Zemio's 50,000 inhabitants to flee.
He added that bodies had been left
on the street outside his rectory, while food, water and medicines had now run
out. He told AFP humanitarian organizations had pulled out and MINUSCA forces
were barred "by clauses in their contract" from intervening.
Catholics make up a third of the
Central African Republic's 4.5 million inhabitants and have been widely praised
for sheltering displaced people around the country. President Faustin-Archange
Touadera took office in March 2016 on a pledge of stability and reconstruction.
The 12,870-strong MINUSCA force,
deployed under a 2014 UN resolution, is tasked with "facilitating
humanitarian assistance; promotion and protection of human rights; support for
justice and the rule of law; and disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and
repatriation processes," according its website, but also lists protecting
civilians as its "utmost priority."
In a 7 August statement, Stephen
O'Brien, UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said he saw
"early warning signs of genocide" in the CAR.
enquiries@thetablet.co.uk, The
Tablet - w: “News.” The Tablet, 24 Aug. 2017,
In the small, overlooked town of
Zemio in Central African Republic, a cry for help is pleading to be heard. This
town only recently attacked, is in a country stricken by civil war. The
people had hoped to avoid the rebels because of their mass numbers of
UN military based in the main part of town. However, that hope was quickly all
but shattered during one long night of violence and disruption. Along with the
rest of the country, Zemio fell into the grip of violent rebel groups. I
personally know this, because I was in Zemio that day and witnessed
the attack on my village before my very own eyes.
This article breaks my heart because
the corruption that is happening is so evident. The UN could have
prevented the whole crisis, so I can't help but think the situation is
completely unfair. I feel that the Catholic priest who reported these
events was voicing the truth. I absolutely believe that there is
prevalent corruption in the UN. If they had the ability to maintain the peace,
then the so called, "peacekeepers," should have immediately been
ordered to help Zemio, my hometown, in it's turmoil. From what I 've seen, I
have no reason to believe that the, Peacekeepers," had a purpose.
Not only was it my home, but it was
the place that my parents invested their precious time and money in. Therefore,
fact that Zemio was and is still so dear to me, could give me, as a reader of
this article, some bias. When I read that the UN, CAR's only hope for peace and
protection, allowed the rebels to attack the hospital where they were
"protecting" people, I can't help but have feelings of dislike for
the UN "peacekeepers." However, other readers can either be
slanted towards one of two biases. Either the UN is cruel and wasn't doing
their job because of all of the innocent lives murdered, or that the UN is
still good and that the article is false.
Another source for bias in this
article is the author and publisher. This comes from "The Tablet," a
Catholic news service. One must keep in mind that it was a Catholic Priest who
accused the UN of "deliberately abandoning his town." Also, the
rebels, who conducted the mass murder in the hospital, were most likely
Muslims. This could create bias towards the publisher's and the priests'
religion. These reasons could have changed the author's writing into having
bias towards the Priest. The way the author writes this article infers
that the UN was indeed in the wrong. Such as "deliberately
abandoning," "someone approaching death," and "unable to
prevent 'innocent women and children being left to their sad fate.'" These
negative phrases towards the UN could create bias for a reader.
However, there is ever prevalent
bias on both sides. Because this news service is international,
and negative feelings towards the UN are not very
popular, the publishers could have left out other information that could
have hurt UN's reputation.
Although we don't have enough information to draw
conclusions on what really is going on, we do know that there is a greater
purpose for this article than pointing out the UN's flaws. This article contributes
to the huge need of awareness for the Central African Republic. I believe that
the writer wants people to know how the people of CAR are being overlooked, and
that they need international help. Bringing the UN into the article was a
brilliant idea because when an organization that large is thrown into
the mix, the article is bound to make the headlines. The cry of Central African
Republic needs to be heard and I think that is exactly what this article
tried to accomplish.
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