\n Nine fighters from an armed group which launched a week-long attack last week in south-eastern Central African Republic have been arrested.\n<\/p>\n
\n The assailants belong to a branch of the CAR's biggest armed group, the Unity for Peace in Central Africa (UPC), the country's special criminal court said in a statement on Monday.\n<\/p>\n
\n The court is responsible for trying cases of serious human rights violations in the country, which has been ravaged by conflict for more than 20 years.\n<\/p>\n
\n The UPC has committed \"widespread and systematic attacks on the civilian population\", the court said.\n<\/p>\n
\n During the attacks on the town of Obo last week, government forces backed by UN troops killed around 10 fighters from the rebel militia and captured others, a government spokesman had told AFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n Led by a mercenary named Ali Darassa, the UPC has been campaigning for months to extend its grip in the southeast, at the crossroads of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.\n<\/p>\n
\n The UPC is one of myriad armed groups which have controlled most of the CAR since the country plunged into violence in 2013.\n<\/p>\n
\n A few months away from high-risk presidential elections due in December, the CAR continues to be plagued by militia attacks despite a peace agreement signed between the government and 14 armed groups, including the UPC, in February 2019.\n<\/p>\n
\n In late April, 28 people -- including at least 21 civilians -- were killed in Ndele in the north-east in clashes between two factions from the same armed group.\n<\/p>\n
\n Following the killings, the country's special criminal court announced that it had opened an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity.\n<\/p>\n
\n Created in 2015 and inaugurated in 2018, the court is responsible for judging serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed in the Central African Republic since 2003.\n<\/p>\n
\n It is composed of national and international judges and supported by the European Union and the United Nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nine fighters from an armed group which launched a week-long attack last week in south-eastern Central African Republic have been arrested. The assailants belong to a branch of the CAR's biggest armed group, the Unity for Peace in Central Africa (UPC), the country's special criminal court said in a statement on Monday. The court is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-44403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n