Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the United Nations peacekeepers are collaborating with the Central African Republic (CAR) in order to prevent hundreds of Muslims trapped in the country’s western region from leaving.

According to the international rights group, 1,750 Muslims, mostly ethnic Peuhl herders, have been trapped in Yaloke, Carnot, and Boda since late 2013 and early 2014, after fleeing attacks by Christian militiamen.

The HRW said that the interim government of CAR was preventing the trapped Muslims living in poor conditions from leaving the country for fear of being accused of ethnic cleansing.

"Those trapped in some of the enclaves face a grim choice: leave and face possible attack from anti-Balaka fighters, or stay and die from hunger and disease," Africa researcher with HRW, Lewis Mudge, said.

“While there are good reasons to ensure that the country’s Muslim population does not diminish further, under the current circumstances, the government’s policy of no evacuations is absolutely indefensible.”

The group has also quoted witnesses as saying that UN peacekeepers had pulled Muslims attempting to leave the western region from their trucks.

Also on Monday, authorities said at least 20 people had been killed in recent violence between armed groups after Christian militiamen launched an attack on members of the Muslim Seleka group in Bambri.

The Central African Republic descended into chaos December of last year, when Christian armed groups launched coordinated attacks against the Seleka group, which had toppled the government in March 2013.

On December 5, 2013, France invaded its former colony after the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution giving the African Union (AU) and France the go-ahead to send troops to the country.

Despite the presence of some 8,000 UN and 2,000 French peacekeepers in CAR, the conflict, which has killed thousands and displaced about a million people, has not been resolved.

Rights groups have in a few occasions reported that Muslims in the war-torn country “are being butchered” at the hands of the Christians.