France arrests Central Africa Republic war crimes suspect

<p>French authorities have arrested Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona, a senior leader and the National General Coordinator of a Anti-Balaka militant group in the Central Africa Republic.&nbsp;</p> <p>Ngaissona is charged with having led targeted attacks on the nation’s Muslim’s population in 2013-14.&nbsp;</p> <p>The International Criminal Court (ICC) further alleges he was responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity including “murder, extermination, deportation, persecution, torture, attacking civilians, and recruiting child soldiers”. &nbsp;</p> <p>The arrest was carried out on December 7. The ICC has since submitted a formal request that he be extradited to the Hague to face trial.&nbsp;</p> <p>Ngasissona has rejects the allegations. He had been elected to the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football in February, despite protest from the Human Rights Watch.&nbsp;</p> <p>He was however barred from running for the presidential election in 2015 due to the role he played in the ethnic violence.</p> <p>The Central African Republic is rife with ethnic conflict with with the Christian Anti-Balaka militias waging war with the Muslim Seleka rebels following the coup they launched against President Francois Bozize in 2013.</p>