The government of the Central African Republic (CAR) has rejected warnings that the strife-torn country may be headed for genocide.


CAR Foreign Minister Leonie Banga Bothy said in an interview with a local radio on Saturday that such warnings would not do anything to help the situation in the country and could have an opposite effect.

The United Nations, the United States, and former colonial ruler France earlier warned of possibility of genocide in CAR.

"We can't speak of a genocide of an ethnic or social group," the CAR foreign minister said, adding, "Such statements on an international level can lead people to believe there is an imminent danger and to arm themselves to prepare for this genocide. And that is not what we want."

"The security situation is worrying in certain regions of our country and in several areas of the capital [Bangui]. But a lot of bold and positive measures have been taken. And we hope that in the face of some of the results, we will be able to stabilize the situation in our country.”

"To speak of pre-genocide or of genocide, I think this will have perverse effects on the population, which has already suffered a great deal and which at the moment does not need any additional paranoia," Bothy stated.


In an attempt to stop the surge of armed crime, CAR President Michel Djotodia, former Seleka rebel leader, renewed a curfew on Bangui on Friday.

On September 13, Djotodia dissolved the Seleka rebel coalition, which had brought him to power. Some of the rebels later joined the country’s regular army while some defied.

The Seleka rebels, who launched an offensive against the CAR government in December 2012 and finally ousted then President Francois Bozizé in March, have been accused of killing, looting, and raping across the country.

A recent UN report blamed the Seleka fighters for much of the chaos in the country, saying, “uncontrolled Seleka elements and unidentified armed groups” in the country committed "arbitrary arrests and detention, sexual violence against women and children, torture, rape, targeted killings, recruitment of child soldiers and attacks."

In July, the International Federation for Human Rights said at least 400 murders by Seleka-affiliated groups had been documented since March.

There are many mineral resources, including gold and diamond, in the Central African Republic. However, the country is extremely poor and has faced a series of rebellions and coups since it gained independence in 1960.