U.N. Experts Say Only Evacuate Threatened C.Africans as Last Resort

The international community must do more to protect threatened religious minorities in the conflict-ravaged Central African Republic, U.N. experts said Friday, insisting evacuation should only be a last resort.

"The dilemma to either stay and risk one's life or be evacuated is enormous for religious minorities in the Central African Republic," the U.N. human rights experts warned in a statement.

A cycle of sectarian violence that broke out in the chronically unstable African country last year has caused much of the minority Muslim population to flee their homes, with the capital almost entirely emptied of Muslims.

The mostly Christian "anti-balaka" militias have taken a merciless vengeance on the community after the Seleka, a mostly Muslim rebel group, temporarily seized power in a coup in March 2013.

Since then, thousands have been killed and nearly a million displaced, amid warnings that the country is on the brink of genocide.

The United Nations and other humanitarian actors have helped evacuate some Muslims from areas where they are particularly at risk, but that has proven controversial.

On Monday, Central Africa's Reconciliation Minister Antoinette Montaigne criticized the evacuation missions as giving a "de facto acceptance of the alleged division of our country".

"Evacuations have to be decided on a case by case basis, with the full individual consent of the persons concerned," Chaloka Beyani, the U.N. expert on the rights of displaced people displaced, said in Friday's statement.

"It is important that everyone has the right to decide to stay or to evacuate with the guarantee of return in safety and dignity once conditions allow," he added.

Rita Izsak, the U.N.'s minority rights expert, meanwhile described the situation in the country as "extreme".

"Saving lives must be a paramount concern in view of the current levels of violence and displacement," she said, stressing that "any evacuation should be essential and short-term with a prospect of return to their homes."

Whether people under threat stay put or opt to be evacuated, they must "be granted protection urgently, and fully consulted on what happens to them in the short, medium and long-term", she said.

The experts urged the international community to do more to protect those at risk.

The former colonial power France and the African Union have together deployed more than 7,000 peacekeeping troops in the country.

The UN has decided to deploy 12,000 peacekeepers, but they are not set to arrive until September.

"Time is of the essence and the persons in need of protection cannot wait longer," lamented Beyani, stressing that those under threat "need to be assured that they will be afforded immediate and effective protection against reprisals".