U.N. Sanctions Expected against People behind Violence in CAR

The United Nations was expected on Tuesday to adopt a resolution imposing sanctions against those who foment violence in the crisis-wracked Central African Republic, a French official said Monday.

Meanwhile, troops of an African peacekeeping force known as MISCA were escorting out of Bangui former rebels of the mainly Muslim coalition that seized power in March last year, according to residents and a senior human rights observer.

The U.N. measure will target "individuals who harm peace and stability and hinder the process of political transition in the Central African Republic by fueling violence" and violating human rights, foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said in Paris.

The draft resolution, sponsored by France, was announced after further clashes Sunday in the CAR capital, despite last week's election of interim President Catherine Samba Panza by the transitional parliament in the former French colony, torn by inter-religious strife.

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced that Washington was weighing "targeted" CAR sanctions against "those who further destabilize the situation or pursue their own selfish ends by abetting or encouraging the violence".

Repeating President Barack Obama's call for peace in the poor, landlocked country, the top U.S. diplomat said "the United States stands with Transitional President Samba-Panza" in her reconciliation efforts and bid to hold elections by February 2015.

Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director for Human Rights Watch, said that one of the convoys carrying men of the Seleka coalition drove out of Bangui on Sunday with a large armed escort from MISCA, an African Union force of 5,200 men backed by 1,600 French troops.

They were headed north in the direction of Bossembele, said Bouckaert, who added that ex-fighters, including many men from neighboring Chad and Sudan, were still negotiating with MISCA about their departure.

Bangui residents sheltered in the Kasai camp, one of the largest of several housing some 400,000 displaced people in all, said that the ex-Seleka forces who were there on Sunday "fled with their weapons, deserting the place."

Successive waves of former rebels took to a hill that overlooks the camp. "At first light (on Sunday), they took residents hostage to lead them far away from the camp in the direction of the northern road out," one witness said.

French soldiers of Operation Sangaris, which supports MISCA, had entered the Kasai camp on Saturday morning to register fighters who took refuge there from December 5, when France went into military action in its coup-prone former colony.

In March last year, the Seleka brought one of their leaders, Michel Djotodia, to power, but he was forced out by his regional African peers on January 10 for failing to halt atrocities by the rebels and brutal reprisals by vigilante groups from the Christian majority.

Clashes and atrocities against civilians, including women and children, have displaced about a quarter of the population of 4.6 million, while the U.N. estimates that more than two million people need urgent humanitarian aid.

Samba Panza, known for her ability to reconcile former foes, is in the process of forming a government capable of restoring order, backed by pledges of further foreign military help and substantial financial aid.

International donors on January 20 pledged $500 million (366 million euros) for the CAR this year, while the World Bank last Thursday said it would provide $100 million to help restore crippled government services as well as to pay for humanitarian help.

The departure of Seleka forces from the capital has roused fears in the Muslim community of attacks by Christians in the "anti-balaka" (anti-machete) militias known for atrocities against civilians and hostility to the authorities.

Easing tensions between Muslim and Christian communities is considered a priority both by religious leaders and by Samba Panza, who was sworn in last Thursday, a day after the United Nations issued a further warning that the unprecedented inter-religious clashes could be a prelude to genocide.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, warned Tuesday that "the security and human rights situation has further deteriorated over the past few days. Muslim civilians are now extremely vulnerable."

"We simply cannot let the social fabric of this country be torn apart," Pillay said in a statement. "I call as a matter of utmost urgency upon the international community to strengthen peacekeeping efforts.

"There is a need to urgently restore security not only in Bangui but also in other parts of the country. Many lives are at stake," Pillay added. Much of the interior of the CAR is lawless territory run by warlords.