UN experts alarmed by Russian mercenaries’ ‘abuses’ in CAR

Experts cite reports of abuses including summary executions, arbitrary detentions, torture, and forced disappearances.

United Nations experts have expressed alarm over reports of “grave human rights abuses” by Russian mercenaries in the Central African Republic, where they have supported the embattled government’s military. The alleged abuses identified by the Working Group on mercenaries include mass summary executions, arbitrary detentions, torture, forced disappearances, forced displacement of civilians, indiscriminate targeting of civilian facilities and attacks on humanitarian workers. “The experts have received, and continue to receive, reports of grave human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, attributable to the private military personnel operating jointly with CAR’s armed forces and in some instances UN peacekeepers,” the UN experts said in a statement on Wednesday, naming Russian companies.