DHAKA: International peacekeepers have failed to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in the Central African Republic.

A human rights group says, reports the BBC.

Militia attacks have led to a ‘Muslim exodus of historic proportions’, according to a report by Amnesty International.

Aid groups have warned of a food crisis, as many of the shops and wholesalers were run by Muslims.

The UN’s World Food Programme has started a month-long aid airlift.

The roads are too dangerous to transport food without a military escort, WFP spokesman Alexis Masciarelli told the BBC.

This is why the UN agency is taking the more expensive option of flying food in from neighbouring Cameroon.

The first flight carrying 82 tonnes of rice arrived on Wednesday, with a further 1,800 tonnes of cereal to follow in the coming weeks.

This is enough to feed 150,000 people but he said it was not enough as 1.25 million need food aid in the country.

BDST: 2030HRS, FEB 12, 2014