Kidnapping in the CAR

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Here's a horrific story from a horrific part of the world:

Armed gangs are seizing children for ransom payments in the lawless north of the Central African Republic, human rights body Amnesty International says.

Some parents have paid up to $4,000 for their children to be freed -- other minors have been killed, Amnesty says.

The region is a "free-for-all" for rebels, soldiers and armed bandits, a researcher who has just returned says.

CAR has accused neighbouring Sudan of backing the rebels, with attacks coming from Darfur. Sudan denies the charges.

Says one Amnesty researcher: "News is clearly spreading to criminal elements throughout the region that they can have free rein in northern CAR, as there is an almost total absence of any authority." Meanwhile, CAR civilians are "fleeing 'from the frying pan into the fire" by heading to Chad and Sudan" -- "More than 280,000 people have fled their homes in the past year." Both sides, government forces and rebels alike, seem to be killing civilians, though of course this is being strenuously denied.

Kidnapping and genocide. So much more of the same for a continent rife with problems that are so enormous as to seem insoluble. Which, however, is no excuse for doing nothing.