BANGUI, Central African Republic, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A U.N. humanitarian coordinator said it was difficult to find safe haven for members of the minority Muslim population in the Central African Republic.
Seleka, a Sunni Muslim rebel coalition, overthrew the government in March. Former President Michel Djotodia eventually lost control of the rebel force and the conflict took a turn for the worse when anti-balaka, a Christian militia, took up arms against its Muslim rivals.
Peter Neussl, a director at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Networks his staff was working to get Muslims out of the capital city, Bangui.
"We would have to be very careful about the possible impact of such transfers on the host population," he said in an interview published Thursday.
The U.N. Security Council last year authorized the deployment of French troops to support an African Union peacekeeping operation in CAR. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Tuesday the intervention likely prevented genocide in the former French colony.
Navi Pillay, the top human rights official for the United Nations, has said that while Seleka continued to target the Christian population, anti-balaka was behind most of the violence.
Neussl said the Muslim community was "under constant threat" from the Christian militia.
