A new court in the Central African Republic has justice advocates hoping the notoriously unstable nation might finally see some accountability for grave human rights violations committed on its soil. Architects of the United Nations-backed Special Criminal Court describe it as a low-cost way of holding trials for atrocity crimes that could also provide a new model for collaboration between domestic and international justice efforts. But the court faces a daunting array of potential challenges, chief among them renewed violence, scarce funds and weak political will—all factors that have doomed accountability initiatives there in the past.

On Feb. 15, Congolese military prosecutor Toussaint Muntazini Mukimapa was named the lead prosecutor of the court, whose staff will include foreigners and Central Africans. Mukimapa, who was chosen in part for his record of prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity in Congo, is expected to start work next month. ...