Central African Republic Father's Sacrifice
In this photo taken on Friday March 7, 2014, Yaman Ahmat, center, sits with her children at Bangui Airport after only hours earlier, her husband Marcus Madi, had put her and their eight children including newborn daughter Ashta onto a flight to the capital in a desperate bid to save their lives, but he was tragically killed on his return from the airport.(AP/Krista Larson)

The United Nations said on Tuesday it was trying to evacuate 19,000 Muslims urgently from Bangui and other parts of Central African Republic who are surrounded by anti-balaka Christian militia threatening their lives.

Anti-balaka forces control major routes to and from Bangui as well as many towns and villages in the southwest, the UN refugee agency said. The militia has become more militarized as it steps up attacks on Muslims and African Union peacekeepers.

“What we don’t want is to stand by and watch people being slaughtered,” UNHCR spokeswoman Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba told a news briefing about a conflict that UN officials have warned could spiral into genocide.

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