The International Criminal Court (ICC) has delivered a landmark verdict, convicting two leaders of a predominantly Christian rebel group in the Central African Republic (CAR) for multiple war crimes committed against Muslim civilians during the country’s civil war in 2013 and 2014. Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona, former president of the CAR Football Federation, and Alfred Yekatom, a rebel leader known as “Rambo,” were found guilty of their involvement in atrocities, including murder, torture, and attacking civilians.
The court sentenced Yekatom to 15 years for 20 war crimes and crimes against humanity, while Ngaissona received 12 years for 28 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges stem from their roles as senior leaders in the anti-Balaka militia, which was formed in 2013 after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels stormed the capital Bangui and toppled then-President Francois Bozize, a Christian.
The violence that ensued left thousands of civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of others. Mosques, shops, and homes were looted and destroyed. The ICC’s presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt read harrowing details of the violence committed by the militia against suspected Seleka Muslims, including instances where Yekatom’s men tortured one suspect by cutting off his fingers, toes, and one ear. The man’s body was never found, and others were killed and then mutilated.
Yekatom listened impassively to the verdict, dressed in a light brown suit and waistcoat, white shirt, and dark tie. Ngaissona, dressed in a bright blue jacket, nodded to the judge as his sentence was delivered. The court found Yekatom not guilty of conscripting child soldiers and acquitted Ngaissona of the charge of rape. Both men had pleaded not guilty to all charges laid out in the trial, which opened in 2021.
This case marks a significant milestone for the ICC, which began in May 2014, as it is the first to focus on the violence that erupted after the Seleka seized power in the CAR in 2013. Yekatom was extradited to The Hague in late 2018 after being arrested in the CAR for firing his gun in parliament, while Ngaissona was arrested in France in December 2018 and extradited to The Hague.
The trial of an alleged Seleka commander, Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, is ongoing. Last year, judges at the ICC unsealed another arrest warrant in the investigation, accusing Edmond Beina of commanding a group of about 100-400 anti-balaka fighters responsible for murdering Muslims in early 2014. Separate proceedings against Beina and five others are slated to begin in the CAR.
The CAR has endured a succession of civil wars and authoritarian governments since gaining independence from France in 1960. While violence has subsided in recent years, fighting occasionally erupts in remote regions between rebels and the national army, backed by Russian mercenaries and Rwandan troops.