We should be paying attention to what is happening at the International Criminal Court

It is just another court case, another headline, another place we know little about.

But the detail in the charge sheets against Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona should dispel any world weariness about their trial at the International Criminal Court, which began this week.

Yekatom, who also went under the nickname “Rambo”, faces 10 counts of war crimes and 11 counts of crimes against humanity. Ngaissona faces 16 counts of war crimes and 16 of crimes against humanity.

Behind the dry words, these charges include murder, torture, persecution, recruiting child soldiers and, in Ngaissona’s case, rape. The crimes took place between 2013 and 2014 when the pair headed the Christian anti-Balaka militias in the Central African Republic. Both men say they are innocent.

There has been criticism that the trial of the pair is one-sided, that they belonged to the same side in the country’s unrest. But in January the ICC announced it had detained a leading member of the Seleka militia, the mostly-Muslim group being fought by the anti-Balaka soldiers.

It may just seem like another grim trial in the list of war crime cases tried by the court.

But it is happening against a backdrop of further unrest and misery in the Central African Republic. (CAR)

At the very end of last year, the CAR held elections. The vote took place against a backdrop of violence, which has worsened in the last few weeks.

The current violence threatens to drag in other countries, including France the former colonial power France and Russia, which has been sending “military instructors” to the CAR.

Neighbouring countries have blocked borders and charities have warned that the current fighting poses a real risk to the general population and children in particular. More than 200,000 people have fled their homes; there are food shortages and rising prices. The situation is desperate.

What is happening in the CAR right now is a repeat of events that have happened in the recent past. That is why whatever the dryness of the court case might be in the ICC, the issues that are being tried are exceptionally important.

Yours,

David Harding

International editor