Yekatom, Alfred

Yekatom led the anti-balak detachment of about three thousand people. Yekatom also represented Antibalaka at a number of meetings and negotiations. In 2015, he was imposed sanctions by the United States ^[1] and the United Nations ^[2] as the “leader of a group threatening peace, security or stability of the Central African Republic”.

In 2016, Yekatom became a deputy of the Central African Parliament. During his tenure, he was a member of the commission on defense and security, which was also involved in disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation and integration programs ^[3] .

On October 29, 2018, during the election of the Chairman of the Central African Parliament, Yekatom opened fire in the parliament building. As a result of the shooting, no one was injured, the shooter himself was neutralized ^[4] .

In November 2018, those arrested by Yekat were transferred by the Central African authorities to the International Criminal Court, which is investigating crimes committed during the civil war in the Central African Republic ^[5] . He became the first CAR citizen accused of war crimes and brought before the International Criminal Court ^[6] .

Yekatom was charged with crimes allegedly committed between December 2013 and May 2014. In particular, Yekatom is accused of torture, murder, kidnapping, forced imprisonment, robbery and looting, and recruiting children under the age of 15 in his squad ^{[ 7] [6]} .