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Photos: Brutal lynching in CAR after presidential visit

February 5, 2014 11:00AM ET

Soldiers and recruits in Bangui kill a man suspected of being a Seleka rebel moments after a military ceremony

Topics:
International
Central African Republic
Africa
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Bangui, lynching
CAR's interim President Catherine Samba-Panza, right, prepares to give a speech at a military ceremony attended by soldiers and recruits on Wednesday in Bangui. Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images
Bangui, lynching
Bangui, lynching
Samba-Panza told the crowd of about 4,000 troops and dignitaries gathered at the National School of Magistrates of her "pride in seeing so many elements of the Central African Republic forces reunited." The ceremony was held to mark the reformation of troops dispersed since the coup that brought rebel Michel Djotodia to power. Siegfried Modola/Reuters
Bangui, lynching
A mob of soldiers and recruits began attacking a man (not pictured) accused of being a Seleka rebel. A gendarme, center in black, attempted to intervene but was quickly accused of being a rebel himself. Shortly after this photograph, he was whisked away to safety by fellow gendarmes, and the crowd continued to beat the victim. Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images
Bangui, lynching
Newly enlisted FACA (Central African Armed Forces) soldiers drag the lifeless body of the suspected Muslim Seleka militiaman moments after Samba-Panza's address. The victim was lynched by hundreds of recruits, who pelted him with bricks and mutilated his body with knives. Jerome Delay/AP
Bangui, lynching
A member of FACA puts his knife away after taking part in the lynching of the man. Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

In a shocking display of violence that underscores the anarchy in the war-torn Central African Republic, soldiers and recruits killed a suspected rebel Wednesday with knives and concrete blocks just moments after the president delivered a speech and as members of the international press corps remained in the area.

Moments after interim President Catherine Samba-Panza addressed a crowd of soldiers, saying how proud she was of them, troops in uniform ganged up on a man they suspected of belonging to the Seleka rebellion that overthrew the government last March. After the first stab, Burundian troops surrounded the wounded man in an attempt to protect him from the growing crowd.

"I will kill him with my own hands," shouted one man in the crowd who had come to enlist in the national army.

As the crowd closed in, the Burundian soldiers simply withdrew, not even firing warning shots that might have dispersed the mob. The CAR soldiers continued stabbing the man while others kicked him in the face. Others pelted him with concrete blocks as the crowd cheered.

A police officer jumped out of his truck to try to halt the gruesome attack and was accosted by the crowd and accused of being a traitor. Senior officers managed to pull the officer from the mob and sped away with him in their pickup. With police also retreating from the scene, the soldiers continued their violent act, dragging the mutilated corpse through the streets.

Last year's coup ushered in months of chaos and bitter hatred toward the mostly Muslim rebels and has left anyone accused of collaborating with them vulnerable to attack. More than 1,000 people died in just a few days in December alone.

The rebels' 10-month rule was marked by human rights abuses, and ended when their president, Michel Djotodia, resigned in January. The violence is unprecedented in a country with little history of intercommunal conflict. The rage unleashed Wednesday will likely raise concerns about the national army's ability to protect all citizens amid the divide between the Christian majority and the Muslim minority.

The Associated Press