Marauding rebels have run roughshod over the Central African Republic, raping, killing and looting the troubled country into a barren, lawless land.
The landlocked former French colony has dangerously drifted toward becoming the next Rwanda as Seleka rebels run the isolated nation with absolutely no accountability, according a report by the New York Times.
Even Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye, a human rights leader appointed by rebel leaders to be nation’s emissary to the outside world, said the nation is a chaotic mess.
“It’s anarchy, a nonstate,” said Tiangaye.
“Looting, arson, rape, massacres of the civilian population — they are sowing terrorism,” he said, staring at the floor in his darkened office.
Faustin Ouaya, who once worked for what now seems like the laughable Ministry of Tourism, said the nation’s 5.1 million citizens are struggling for the most basic needs.
“One meal a day,” Ouaya told the Times. “Sometimes, not even that.”
Rebels have even broken into orphanages to steal what little supplies remain in the beleaguered country, according to Amnesty International.
The capital city of Bangui is virtually devoid of commerce, as scores of refugees continue to escape to the countryside in hopes of dodging roaming death squads.
Rebels conspicuously cruise around in their Toyota pickup trucks, randomly picking up citizens they deem to be enemies of the state – or just easy kidnapping targets.
“The feeling is one of terror: this is what haunts the population,” textile worker Faustin Yandergo told the Times.
Widely hated military strongman François Bozizé ruled the nation for 10 years before he fled into exile this past spring.
His departure has only plunged the nation into greater depths of poverty.
“No schools, no roads, really — it’s chaos,” said Abdel Kadir Kalil, a Seleka commander, explaining why rebels needed to drive Bozizé from power.
“We wanted to develop the country, but the ex-president, Bozizé, he ignored our projects.”
Rwanda was wracked by Civil War in the early 1990s and a genocide caried out by lawless militia groups in 1994 resulted in the deaths of about 800,000 people.