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STORY: GENEVA / COI CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
TRT: 2.20
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 10 MARCH 2014 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Med shot, press room Palais des Nations
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Bernard Acho Muna, Chairperson, International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic:
"The Central African Republic has had many coup d'etats and basically after each coup d'etat, there is reconciliation and nobody is held accountable and then in the end, we have people sitting in cabinet, in the government with blood on their hands and this has never helped the situation. When I was there two weeks ago, there was a definite feeling that this must stop."
4. Med shot, dais Bernard Acho Muna, Chairperson , International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic and Commission member Fatimata M'Baye
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Bernard Acho Muna, Chairperson, International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic:
"What we can do is make sure that those who cross the red line will be accountable to the international community and will be liable to prosecution if necessary."
6. Med shot, shoulder of journalist
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Bernard Acho Muna, Chairperson , International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic:
"We have also had reports of genocide, but one thing I can tell you from my Rwanda experience is that there is definitely a question of propaganda already, of hate propaganda. That is usually a very bad sign, when there is hate propaganda, so we will see if the hate propaganda is just a form of dialogue or really the start of something more sinister."
8. Med shot, presser
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Bernard Acho Muna, Chairperson, International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic:
"We don't wait until genocide is committed and then we call for prosecution. I think it is in our mandate to see how we can stop any advances towards genocide and therefore we definitely would be able to make recommendations to the Security Council in view of the hate messages that are already going through. I hope that this is only noise and that when you can put troops on the ground, this might disappear, but this is something we will see on the ground."
A Commission of Inquiry established by the United Nations Security Council leaves Geneva today (10 March) for a two- week investigation mission into the violence and alleged violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the Central African Republic.
The Commissioners will meet civilians, government officials and diplomats in Bangui and outlying villages. It will present its initial findings to the Security Council in June and its final report at the end of the year.
Commission Chairman Bernard Acho Muna told journalists in Geneva that it would carry out a full scale investigation and draw up a complete file that would allow the Security Council to take appropriate action.
Muna, a Cameroonian jurist, spoke of a cycle of abuses and impunity in the Central African Republic that left people in power with blood on their hands.
He said there was a feeling in the Central African Republic itself and internationally that this impunity must stop.
Asked about allegations of genocide, Muna said while it was too early to draw that conclusion, there were reports of hate propaganda.
It remained to be seen if that was merely noise or something more sinister.
He said the mission's mandate included making recommendations to the Security Council on hate propaganda to see if it could be prevented from leading to genocide.
Mauritanian lawyer Fatimata M'baye and former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda are the other members of the Commission.
