Armed group frees 163 children in Central African Republic

CAR mine collapse: Dozens killed at rebel-held gold mine

Miners work at the Ndassima gold mine in the Central African Republic (22 May 2014)

At least 25 people have died in a gold mine collapse in the Central African Republic, officials say.

Gunmen attack Muslims fleeing CAR, kill 22, 3 kids

FILE – In this Friday, Dec. 27, 2013 file photo, French soldiers protect a truck of fleeing Muslims after it broke down and was surrounded by hundreds of hostile Christian residents, including several anti-balaka militiamen, in the Gobongo neighborhood of Bangui, Central African Republic. Central African Republic has long teetered on the brink of anarchy, but the new unrest unleashed by a March 2013 coup has ignited previously unseen sectarian hatred between Christians and Muslims. More than 1,000 people were killed in December alone and nearly 1 million displaced. The crisis has forced some to flee across borders to desperately poor and unstable countries like Chad and Congo. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

CAR conflict: Unicef says children ‘beheaded’ in Bangui

More needs to be done to protect children, Unicef says

Thousands of Christians seek refuge at Central African airport

France to send troops as UN warns of chaos in Central Africa

French soldiers pictured on patrol in Bangui on October 23, 2013, are to receive reinforcements under a new agreement between France and the Central African Republic (AFP/File, Pacome Pabandji)

Hundreds of armed vigilantes attack CAR town

The anti-balaka groups were formed by local residents exasperated by the abuses committed by members of the former rebel Seleka group. (AFP)

UN team find burned villages, abuse in C.Africa

Families sit in the Hopital de l’Amitie (Friendship hospital) in the Boy-Rabe neighbourhood in Bangui, on August 31, 2013. Aid workers who carried out an emergency mission to the north of strife-torn Central African Republic found villages abandoned and burned, and evidence of widespread rights abuses, the UN refugee agency said Friday. (AFP/File)

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GENEVA (AFP) –  Aid workers who carried out an emergency mission to the north of strife-torn Central African Republic found villages abandoned and burned, and evidence of widespread rights abuses, the UN refugee agency said Friday.

“The UNHCR team confirmed widespread lawlessness in the region. Local people spoke of physical assaults, extortion, looting, arbitrary arrest and torture by armed men,” said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The team travelled to a region some 500 kilometres (310 miles) north of the capital Bangui last week.

“We are, in general, increasingly worried about the civilians caught in the middle of the fighting and who are at the mercy of anyone with a gun,” she said, adding it remained unclear who was fighting.