BANGUI, Central African Republic — Col. Saleh Zabadi, a commander of the alliance of rebel forces that seized control of much of this country in March, is widely feared for his ruthlessness.

I recently sat down with three men who had barely survived an encounter with him. They were among seven Christian men captured by fighters from the rebel alliance, which is mostly Muslim, on Nov. 18 while returning from selling produce at a market outside of the town of Bossangoa.

Tied up and beaten, the men were brought to Colonel Zabadi and his commander, Gen. Issa Yahya (who died last week in fighting in Bangui, the capital). With barely a second thought, Colonel Zabadi accepted his men’s accusation that the tied-up traders were enemy fighters. “Go throw them in the river,” he said, ordering that the men be killed by drowning. Four of them died. The three who escaped told us their story.

The Central African Republic, a landlocked country of 4.5 million, most of whom are Christian, has been torn by fighting between the rebel alliance known as Seleka (or ex-Seleka, as they have been nominally integrated into the army) and the mainly Christian anti-balaka (“anti-machete”) fighters, who have carried out revenge attacks against the Muslim rebels who control the capital.