In response to the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the Central African Republic, the Enough Project has signed on to a press statement calling attention to the crisis and urging swift international action. Since the seizure of the capital by Seleka rebels in March 2013, the central government has lost control of the majority of the country. Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, has been active in eastern CAR, and counter-LRA operations have been restored in that area of the country, but this statement deals with the wider situation in CAR.
The statement, also signed by ten other organizations, including Invisible Children, Search for Common Ground, and others, brings attention to the dire humanitarian situation in a country in which an increase in inter-communal and sectarian violence has been observed. With 400,000 internally displaced people and 220,000 refugees, the crisis is already bleeding out into neighboring countries. Abuses by Seleka and other forces have included arbitrary killings, kidnappings, and gender-based violence.
Photo: Rebel soldiers drive through the center of the capital Bangui in Central African Republic in March 2013 (AP).
Evan Anderson contributed to this post.