Nearly 15,000 Muslim residents in the Central African Republic (CAR) have reportedly been besieged in the nation’s capital of Bangui by Christian militia amid their persisting trail of killing and looting of more Muslims.


UN officials reiterated on Thursday that the Muslims remain in imminent danger in Bangui and should be relocated to safer areas farther north or out of the country, despite the presence of thousands of African and French troops on the ground to provide protection for the residents.

The development comes as the UN Security Council approved a resolution on Thursday to deploy yet another peacekeeping force of 12,000 troops.

The Muslim community in CAR has been stuck in the town of Boda. Some two-thousand people are estimated to have been killed in violence there since December.

During a Saturday visit to CAR capital Bangui, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the country’s leaders to prevent a new genocide in the continent similar to the one in Rwanda 20 years ago.

Ban said the country’s authorities must avert the recurrence of the atrocities that led to the deaths of some 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994.

The UN chief also voiced concern over the ongoing “ethno-religious cleansing” in CAR and said, “Most members of the Muslim minority have fled” their homes.

“Do not repeat the mistakes of the past -- heed the lessons. The fate of your country is in your hands,” he stressed.