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CAR: ‘Rambo’ Goes to Hague For Crimes Against Humanity

  • (Anti-balaka fighters from the town of Bossembele patrol in the Boeing district of Bangui, Central African Republic, February 24, 2014. REUTERS/Camille Lepage)

    (Anti-balaka fighters from the town of Bossembele patrol in the Boeing district of Bangui, Central African Republic, February 24, 2014. REUTERS/Camille Lepage)

Published 18 November 2018
Opinion

The International Criminal Court (ICCE) at the Hague issued an arrest warrant for Alfred Yekatom known as 'Rambo' for crimes against humanity.

On Saturday, Alfred Yekatom, nicknamed ‘Rambo,’ leader of a Christian Militia and former member of parliament (MP), was extradited from his home country the Central African Republic (CAR) to International Criminal Court (ICC) to be tried for crimes against humanity.

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‘Rambo’ allegedly commanded a group of 3,000 members operating within the Anti-Balaka movement, composed of christian militias, which opposed and fought against a coalition of Muslim groups denominated Seleka, which seized power in the country in 2013.

Many of the crimes committed under Yekatom’s leadership were perpetrated in the Bangui and Lobaye prefectures of the CAR, between 2013 and 2014. Amongst them: murder, deportation or forcible transfer of population, imprisonment or other severe deprivation or physical liberty, torture, persecution, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts;” this list presented by the ICC, goes on to detail several war crimes.  

Not only were the crimes committed directly against the Seleka group, who was engaged in the fighting with anti-Balaka, but also against Muslim civilians who had no involvement and people “perceived” to support the Muslim group.

The arrest warrant for ‘Rambo’s arrest concerning these crimes was issued on November 11.

The CAR is a former French colony, which has historically heavily relied on primary export trade since the onset of colonialism. First, rubber, then wood, followed by gold, diamonds, oil and uranium. The CAR achieved its independence from France in 1960.   

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