A powerful vigilante leader in the Central African Republic, accused of masterminding a massacre of some 300 minority Muslims in December 2013, has been arrested, prosecutors said today.
UN peacekeepers arrested Rodrigue Nagibona, alias General Andjilo, who had been on the run for several months, yesterday in the northwest of the impoverished country, the prosecutors said.
A Cameroonian contingent of the UN force known by the acronym MINUSCA arrested Andjilo in the town of Bouca after a firefight with "his men", a judicial source said.
"General Andjilo is wanted for multiple crimes including killings, rebellion, illegal possession of weapons of war, criminal association, rape and pillage," said Maurice Dibert-Dollet, Bangui's general prosecutor.
Violence between rival factions has plunged the deeply poor, landlocked country into an unprecedented political and security crisis.
Mostly Muslim Seleka fighters backed by armed Muslim civilians have battled the anti-balaka, who emerged in mainly Christian communities to avenge attacks and atrocities, but are themselves accused of serious abuses.
