BANGUI: The UN food agency yesterday launched one of its largest-ever emergency food airlifts, flying in supplies to the Central African Republic, and a top UN official warned of “ethnic-religious cleansing” in the country as peacekeepers uncovered a mass grave at a military camp occupied by Muslim Seleka rebels in the capital Bangui.
A witness saw at least a dozen decomposed bodies at the military camp in the 200 Villas neighbourhood of Bangui, where Seleka fighters have been stationed for several months.
The bodies had been stuffed into a large underground chamber, possibly a septic tank.
Pastor Antoine Mboa Bogo, head of the local Red Cross, confirmed the existence of the grave and said his staff would return to the camp on Thursday to determine the number of dead. It is not known who committed the killings.
On a visit to Bangui, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres called for a massive deployment of international peacekeepers to halt what he described as a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
“There is an ethnic-religious cleansing taking place. It must be stopped,” Guterres told reporters.
The World Food Programme’s first cargo aircraft, loaded with 80 tonnes of rice, landed in the capital Bangui in the early afternoon.
The WFP says a total of 1,800 tonnes of rice will be flown in from Douala in Cameroon, enough for just 150,000 people.
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