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UN human rights chief to visit war-torn CAR

18 March 2014 00:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay will visit the Central African Republic (CAR) on March 18-20 to discuss the "dire human rights situation" there with the interim government and key international institutions, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Pillay's office said Monday in a statement that she plans to meet CAR's interim president and prime minister, as well as representatives of the African Union, the Economic Community of Central African States and the European Union.

The UN human rights chief will hold discussions with the representative of the President of the Commission of the African Union and the head of the African Union peace-keeping force MISCA.

While in Bangui, Pillay plans to meet UN agencies working on the ground, visit sites of destruction and displacement, and meet some of the internally displaced people in CAR.

The conflict in the CAR broke out when mainly Muslim Seleka rebels launched attacks in December 2012 and has taken on increasingly sectarian overtones as mainly Christian militias known as anti-Balaka (anti-machete) have taken up arms.

In addition to thousands of civilians believed to have been killed, more than 700,000 people inside the country have been displaced, and more than 288,000 forced to flee to neighboring Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo.