Sia Kambou / AFP - Getty Images

A Centrafrican military convoy drives on a road going to Sibut, 114 miles north of Bangui, the country's capital on Saturday. Sibut was seized by the rebel coalition Seleka.

As rebels approached the capital of the embattled Central African Republic, the U.S. shuttered its embassy and moved out its ambassador and about 40 diplomats, the Guardian of London reported.

“This decision is solely due to concerns about the security of our personnel and has no relation to our continuing and long-standing diplomatic relations with the (Central African Republic),” read a statement posted Friday to the embassy’s website.

The Seleka rebels seized the city of Sibut about 114 miles from Bangui, the capital, a government official confirmed to The Associated Press. Sibut, a transportation hub, fell to the rebels without a shot fired because the government army had pulled back on Friday.

The rebels accuse President François Bozizé of not meeting terms of a 2007 peace agreement, according to The New York Times. Meanwhile, Bozizé, who grabbed power in 2003 and has since been twice elected president, has pleaded for international help, appealing to the French in particular. The French government, the former colonial power, has refused to step in.

The Central African Republic, with a population of about 4.4 million, is landlocked between other politically unstable countries at the heart of the continent. President Barack Obama sent about 100 special operations troops to the region in April to hunt down Joseph Kony, the rebel leader of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army and the subject of a widely viewed, 30-minute documentary, Kony 2012.

Related: US and Ugandan soldiers go after Joseph Kony

Doctors Without Borders said in a statement this week that clashes between rebels and the army have forced residents to leave their homes – disrupting their missions to bring medical care to the region.

“This situation could have fatal consequences for people already struggling to find care after a decade of chronic armed violence had severely limited the country’s health system,” the statement said. Doctors Without Borders, which has had a presence in the region since 1997, says that malaria is the main focus of its projects there.

Enoch Nodl-ya, a nurse anesthetist for Doctors Without Borders, provided a medical perspective on other issues faced:

For the last 10 years the population has endured the regular presence and attacks from armed men in this region. People are scared and flee rapidly into the bush. As a consequence, many women give birth in the fields without any assistance and most sick or wounded are hesitant to receive medical assistance, scared of possible violence in the populated areas. When the violence stops, we often see patients coming in an advance stage of their diseases.

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A Swedish safari boss, his British pilot and 13 of their staff have been accused of torturing and killing 18 people in the Central African Republic, according to reports.

However, Erik Mararv, of Central African Wildlife Adventures, and 24-year-old aviator David Simpson say they simply discovered the bodies and were arrested when they reported the gruesome find to the authorities, according to Britain's Channel 4 News. 

The people killed in the massacre were burned with hot water and then hacked to death with machetes.

Simpson said he spotted the bodies while flying over the southeast of the country, near Bakouma, and he believes they were killed by Joseph Kony’s infamous Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Simpson’s brother Paul told Channel 4 that he thought they were being blackmailed, while a member of Conciliation Resources, a charity that campaigns for peace and has worked on the Kony problem, suggested they were being “scapegoated” because of the inability of the authorities to tackle the LRA.

'I had nothing to do with it'
Despite being held in jail for more than six weeks, Simpson has access to a cellphone and a laptop computer, although communications are difficult.

“Now I have been forced to sign a piece of paper which states that I have been charged with murdering 13 people," he told the Daily Mail newspaper. "It is just ridiculous. Everyone knows I had nothing to do with it. They know it was Kony. 

“It’s all about money. They think because I am white, I must be wealthy," he added. "When they first arrested me, my bail was set at one million euros, which is just ludicrous. I do not know what is going to happen. It’s like a nightmare. I’m sleeping on the floor with no blankets or mattress. I just want this to be over."

'Big fish' nabbed: Troops capture senior Kony commander

Speaking from Gillamoor, England, David’s father Peter Simpson told Channel 4 that their situation was “about as stressful a thing as you could ever wish to happen to anybody.”

But he added that he was “positive he [David] will come back.”

NYT: In vast jungle, US troops aid hunt for Kony

Paul Simpson told Channel 4 that because it was "two white men who reported it, they held them and arrested them and blackmailed them."

'Face-saving exercise'
Caesar Poblicks, of Conciliation Resources, told the broadcaster that the authorities in Central African Republic were “kind of covering up” what really happened.

“It’s a face-saving exercise where he [Simpson] is actually scapegoated for lack of ability to actually apprehend those who have done this kind of activity,” he added.

Central African Wildlife Adventures describes itself as “the most exclusive safari company in Central Africa,” that offers safaris in “the heart of a wilderness within the heart of Africa.”

Sequel to 'Kony 2012' video released

“In the eastern Central African Republic lies a vast territory … totally free of any human encroachment,” its website says.

It says that none of the area where the company operates “has ever been hunted by white men before.”

“Most of it has never even been hunted by natives… It’s simply too far away. The area is very special in the way that we can combine savannah hunting with forest hunting … You may in the morning hunt the majestic Lord Derby Eland and in the evening track one of our forest trails for the elusive Bongo,” it added. “Or why not call for lion? We entirely hunt our lions either by tracking or by calling in early mornings or late afternoons. This is one of the most adrenaline rushing hunts one can ever experience.”

In 'Kony' town, video is hardly a sensation

The U.K. Foreign Office advises people not to travel to the southeastern part of the country, including Bakouma.

The State Department warns that “armed rebel groups, bandits, and poachers present real dangers, and the Central African government is unable to guarantee the safety of visitors in most parts of the country.”

“The continued presence of the Lord’s Resistance Army in eastern CAR poses a particular safety and security threat,” it adds in online information about the country.

It says U.S. citizens should not travel outside the capital Bangui unless it is essential.

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James Akena / Reuters

Ugandans from Lira watch the premiere of "Kony 2012," a 30-minute YouTube film created by the nonprofit Invisible Children. Lira was one of the areas that was ravaged by 20 years of Joseph Kony's rebellion.

Invisible Children delayed the release of a sequel to the viral video "KONY 2012" from Tuesday to Thursday, according to the organization's Twitter account.

It was originally supposed to air on April 3, but for an unknown reason the group has pushed the release date back to April 5.

Calling it “everything we couldn’t fit into KONY 2012,” Invisible Children will once again inform audiences about the use of children soldiers in the Lord’s Revolution Army in Uganda.

The video about LRA leader Joseph Kony has been viewed more than 86 million times since it originally debuted on YouTube nearly one month ago.

Read the original story at NBCSanDiego.com

The organization’s founders and CEO went on a media blitz promoting the documentary, and depended heavily on social media to increase viewership.

But Invisible Children also came under scrutiny for the “KONY 2012” film, with many calling it an oversimplification of the complex LRA conflict in Uganda.

Stuart Price / AFP / Getty Images

Joseph Kony, former leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, answered journalists' questions at Ri-Kwamba, in Southern Sudan, in 2006. Although the Kony 2012 was much critiqued by people who found it dated and overly simplistic, a former child soldier said he supported the video.

A group of human rights activists gathered outside the headquarters of the nonprofit on March 30, calling attention to issues they claim were omitted from the documentary.

Invisible Children CEO Ben Keesey released a series of video responses to the criticism, and later created a page dedicated to the widespread critiques.

The group has been trying to get back on its feet after an unusual turn of events when Invisible Children co-founder and filmmaker Jason Russell suffered a brief reactive psychosis. Russell was discovered by police in Pacific Beach on March 15 in various stages of undress and behaving in a bizarre manner.

Russell was detained and taken to a hospital. It could be months before he can return to Invisible Children, according to his wife Danica.

Brendan Mcdermid / REUTERS

Jason Russell co-founded the non-profit Invisible Children and directed "Kony 2012," a video that has 86 million views on YouTube.

Invisible Children volunteers and workers made little to no public appearances following the incident and the new video will be the group’s first major push since Russell’s hospitalization.

The new video will also include an update on its “Cover the Night” event on April 20 and will air on the Invisible Children YouTube page on Thursday.

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