PARIS, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The international community should spare no effort in ensuring the population in Central African Republic is protected from rebels, a rights group said.
The rebel Seleka coalition is accused of war crimes in its early 2013 move to topple the government in CAR. The United Nations estimates CAR's entire population of 4.6 million people, about half of them children, are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance.
The International Federation for Human Rights, known by its French initials FIDH, published a 49-page report on Seleka's actions.
FIDH President Karim Lahidji said there was a failure of justice in CAR that was having a devastating impact on the civilian population.
"If the international community does not act with firm measures, serious crimes against the population will multiply, and the current lawlessness will have disastrous consequences on the security in the sub-region," he said in a statement Tuesday.
The United Nations said incidents of arbitrary arrests, torture and other acts of violence in the capital have uprooted thousands of people in recent weeks. The International Criminal Court last month said it was investigating the situation.
