U.N. Rights Investigators Seek International Court for C. Africa

U.N. rights investigators said Wednesday that an international tribunal should be set up to try cases of atrocities in the Central African Republic but that donor countries were unwilling to fund it.

The recommendation followed a commission of inquiry report released this month that concluded that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed over the past two years in the CAR.

"We therefore recommend very strongly that a special criminal court be set up, a fully internationalized tribunal," commission member Philip Alston told reporters.

Alston and fellow commission member Fatoumata Mbaye briefed the Security Council on Tuesday on their proposal but were told about plans for a tribunal to be created within the country's existing legal system.

"If that goes ahead, we are extremely concerned to make sure that a majority of the judges and the president are from the international community," he said.

The investigators said that CAR does not have enough judges for the tribunal and that they would lack the independence needed to render decisions on serious crimes committed in their country.

"There is a risk that the United Nations will stumble into the creation of an ineffectual tribunal which will give the appearance of providing justice but will not be able to actually produce the prosecutions that are essential," said Alston.

Alston cited "donor fatigue" among Security Council countries that would have to finance a new tribunal, along the lines of those created for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

"The risk is that in an effort to avoid the expenditure of funds, the council might unwittingly accept a very unsatisfactory solution which will do more harm than good," he said.

In their report, the commission of inquiry concluded that all sides committed human rights violations including rape, murder and torture, but it concluded that there was no genocide.

The Central African Republic slid into bloodshed after the March 2013 coup that ousted longtime leader Francois Bozize, unleashing waves of killing and revenge attacks by Muslim Seleka fighters and anti-balaka rebels.

The commission of inquiry was unable to provide a casualty figure, but said estimates of between 3,000 and 6,000 dead "fail to capture the full magnitude of the killing that occurred."