Central African Republic militia leaders deny role in alleged anti-Muslim atrocities

Former football chief and an MP known as Rambo are accused of crimes against humanity on Muslim population

Alfred Yekatom, left, and Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the Central African Republic in 2013 and 2014. EPA

A former African football chief and an alleged rebel commander known as Rambo went on trial on Tuesday at the International Criminal Court accused of leading Christian-dominated militias in murderous attacks on Muslims in the Central African Republic.

Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona, 53, and Alfred Yekatom, 46, are accused of involvement in atrocities including multiple counts of murder, torture, attacking civilians and the conscription of child soldiers as the country slid into civil war.

The charges, denied by both men, are based on their roles as senior leaders in a predominantly Christian militia known as the anti-Balaka, which engaged in bitter fighting with the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel group in 2013 and 2014.

The Seleka seized power in the country in 2013, forcing then-president Francois Bozize into exile. Their brutal activities "sowed the seeds of vengeance" and led to the rise of the anti-Balaka, the court heard. The subsequent inter-religious violence left thousands of people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands. Mosques, shops and homes were looted and destroyed.

The trial starts against a backdrop of fighting between the Central African Republic army, backed by the United Nations, and rebels from both militia groups who have now formed an alliance with the aim of seizing the capital Bangui and overturning the result of the December 27 election in which President Faustin-Archange Touadera was declared the winner.

Prosecutors say that Mr Ngaissona was a senior anti-Balaka militia leader while Mr Yekatom, the MP known as Rambo, is accused of commanding the group on the ground. Mr Ngaissona also faces rape charges.

Prosecutor Kweku Vanderpuye said that Mr Ngaissona was a member of Mr Bozize's inner circle who was intimately involved in efforts to reclaim political power after the Seleka coup.

Mr Vanderpuye said the case was about the personal conduct of the two men and was not designed to judge which side was more responsible for the atrocities. "There's tragedy enough to go all around," Mr Vanderpuye said.

The pair are the highest-ranking anti-Balaka leaders to face trial and the first at the ICC in a “milestone for justice for victims of brutal crimes”, said Human Rights Watch.

Both men, who were wearing masks behind the glass dock, denied the long list of charges read out to them at the start of the trial in The Hague, Netherlands.

“I categorically say that these counts are not correct. I reject all the charges that you have laid against me,” Mr Yekatom said.

“I don’t recognise myself in the charges brought against me. I am not guilty,” his co-defendant Mr Ngaissona said.

Mr Ngaissona was president of the country's football governing body for more than a decade from 2008. The sport’s international body Fifa banned him from the sport for six years and eight months in November 2019 following his arrest and publication of the allegations against him.

Mr Yekatom was surrendered to the ICC in November 2018 after being arrested for firing a gun in parliament. Mr Ngaissona was detained a month later during a visit on official business to France.

Fighting reignited in the Central African Republic in December after the country’s constitutional court rejected Mr Bozize’s candidacy for the presidential election that month. The  government in February extended a state of emergency for six months as the hostilities continued.

The mineral-rich nation faces an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis with 200,000 people fleeing their homes in less than two months, according to the UN.

The government asked the ICC in May 2014 to investigate crimes allegedly committed by both the Seleka and the anti-Balaka.

After initial criticism that its investigation was one-sided, with only anti-Balaka leaders in the dock, the ICC in January announced it had detained alleged Seleka leader Mahamat Said Abdel Kain.