Central African Republic has handed over an suspected militia commander to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Mahamat Said Abdel Kani was an alleged leader of the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels, according to the Hague-based ICC .
Two other suspects in the violence in Central African Republic are currently on trial at the ICC. Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona, former head of the football federation, and Alfred Yekatom are from the largely Christian anti-Balaka militias.
Fighting started in 2013 when Seleka rebels seized power in Bangui, with anti-Balaka militias supportive of former President Francois Bozize fighting back.
Militias from both sides recently formed an alliance to counter recently reelected President Faustin-Archange Touadera.
Peter Knoope, an analyst from the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa, told DW that Touadera has “always been serious about putting an end to impunity” of militia members accused of horrific human rights abuses.
But he said that Touadera has to strike a difficult balance “between a peace agreement and having people at the negotiation table agreeing on some form of cooperation in the future,” and legal procedures and indictment.
Bangui has its own Special Criminal Court (SCC) tasked with prosecuting human rights abuses.
The SCC is staffed by international and national judges and prosecutors and endowed with international assistance. But its work has come under criticism by international human rights organizations for not being nearly effective enough.
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