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UN: Truth and Reconciliation Commission is Pathway to Peace in CAR

by Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA --

   A U.N. human rights official is urging the government of the Central
   African Republic to establish, without delay, a truth and
   reconciliation commission as a pathway to peace.

   Marie-Therese Keita-Bocoum welcomes progress made in institutional
   reforms this year. But, she says authorities in the Central African
   Republic have to do much, much more to repair the country's chronically
   troubled security and political situation.

   Speaking Wednesday to the U.N. Human Rights Council, she said
   escalating attacks by armed groups are traumatizing the population,
   which is losing trust in the ability of the government to protect it.
   She deplores the hate speech employed by several factions, which, in
   many cases has a dangerous religious component.

   Keita-Bocoum condemns the growing number of what she calls odious
   attacks against aid workers and U.N. peacekeepers. She says it is vital
   to bolster protection for human rights in the country, in particular,
   economic and social rights.

   She says the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission is
   an important element in this mix. She speaks through an interpreter.

   "The government shared with me its determination to develop a
   transitional justice strategy, which would consist of dealing with the
   mass atrocities committed in the past, establishing culpability,
   guaranteeing non-repetition of conflict, and restoring trust and
   national social cohesion. It includes judicial and non-judicial
   mechanisms including the truth commission, institutional reform and
   reparation," she said.

   Keita-Bocoum says the willingness on the part of the government
   deserves stepped-up support from the international community.

   "The situation in the C.A.R. is becoming unbearable. It reveals more
   than ever the urgent need to simultaneously bolster protection of
   civilians, humanitarian aid, combating impunity, and peace initiatives
   and development," she said.

   The C.A.R. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Leopold Samba, agrees with
   the independent expert's assessment of the situation and is appealing
   for greater international support.

   He calls the displacement of 600,000 people and the deaths and injuries
   of some 4,000 people in the C.A.R.'s long-running civil war
   unacceptable. Samba says additional measures are needed to restore
   peace throughout his country's battered national territory.