War crimes prosecutors will Tuesday seek to convince judges at the International Criminal Court to put a former militia commander on trial for organising revenge attacks against Muslim civilians in the Central African Republic.
Maxime Mokom, 44, faces 20 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed by his self-proclaimed self-defence militias in 2013 and 2014.
One of the poorest countries in the world, the former French colony was plunged into a bloody sectarian conflict after Seleka rebels ousted president Francois Bozize in early 2013.
Calling themselves "anti-Balaka" -- meaning "anti-machete" -- Mokom's militia formed in reaction to the takeover of Bangui by the Seleka, a coalition of armed groups mainly composed of Muslims opposed to Bozize's rule.
Prosecutors will now seek in a three-day hearing at the Hague-based ICC to show judges the evidence was solid enough to put Mokom -- who they say was a main military organiser of the anti-Balaka forces -- in the dock. The judges will then decide whether Mokom should stand trial.
Mokom was responsible for military operations by the "anti-Balaka" group which supported Bozize and comprised mainly Christian and animist members.
Prosecutors said Mokom gave "logistical support for military operations... including by providing funds, weapons, medication, and ammunition".
Aiming to put Bozize back in power, Mokom by late 2013 led the planning and coordination for an attack on the capital Bangui and Bossangoa, which lies about 300 kilometres (186 miles) to the northwest.
Mokom played a "critical role" in organising the anti-Balaka's December 2013 attacks in Bangui and Bossangoa, prosecutors said in a court document detailing the charges.
- 'Leave or die' -
The charges included directing attacks against civilians, murder, rape, pillaging and destruction of property as well as attacks against religious buildings including mosques.
The attacks forced more than 100,000 Muslim civilians to flee Bangui across the border to neighbouring Cameroon and Chad.
"Many walked for weeks before reaching the border, while being hunted down by the anti-Balaka," prosecutors said.
"Others were displaced into enclaves, where they were then confined," they said.
Anti-Balaka attacks continued on Muslim civilians even after Seleka forces retreated from Bangui, until at least December 2014.
The attacks were widespread and systematic, prosecutors said.
"The message to the Muslim population was clear -- leave CAR or die," prosecutors said.
Peace agreements signed in 2017 and 2019 have not been respected on the ground.
Many armed groups, rebels and assailants continue a guerrilla campaign of sporadic attacks against the Central African army supported by mercenaries from the Russian private security company Wagner.
Both sides are regularly accused of crimes and abuses against civilians by international NGOs and UN-mandated experts.
Chadian authorities last year handed Mokom over to the ICC, which issued a warrant for his arrest in 2018.
Two former anti-Balaka leaders, Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona and Alfred Yekatom, are already on trial at the ICC.
Last year Seleka commander Mahamat Said Abdel Kani denied war crimes and crimes against humanity charges before the court.
Set up in 2002, the ICC is the world's only independent tribunal capable of prosecuting those accused of the world's worst crimes.