As thousands of Muslims were forced to flee their homes in Central Africa Republic to escape militia attacks, a mosque has been set on fire in the capital city of Bangui after Christian militias looted it.
“They burned part of it, including burning down the home of the imam, and they were really dismantling it stone-by-stone,” Amnesty International’s Joanna Mariner was quoted by Voice Of America on Tuesday, December 10.
“They were also yelling anti-Muslim slogans, making the sign of cutting somebody’s throat and calling for the president to step down.”
The country has been thrown into violence after President Michel Djotodia declared himself the country’s first Muslim leader after ousting President Bozize on March 24.
Taking the helms of power, Djotodia has struggled to rein in members of the now-dissolved Seleka group that swept him to power nine months ago.
According to news reports, rogue former rebels turned warlords have set up little fiefdoms and sown terror in villages.
As a result, Christian militiamen known as “anti-balaka” launched reprisal attacks against Muslims, killing scores of Muslims and forcing thousands outside their villages.
Chanting ‘kill the Muslims’, gangs have launched attacks on Muslim properties and mosques, vandalizing all shops that were believed to be belonging to Muslims.
Many Christians accuse their northern neighbor Chad of pulling the strings behind Seleka.
“We don’t want them in the country any longer, they are traitors,” Jennifer Mowen, a CAR resident, told Agence France Presse (AFP).
“The Malians and Senegalese can stay but the Muslim Chadians must leave,” Eloi, a student standing close by, agreed.
“They should be killed,” said some voices in the crowd.
At least 400 have been killed and hundreds more injured since last Thursday when Christian militias, loyal to the CAR’s ousted President Francois Bozize, launched multiple attacks from the north, according to the UN humanitarian office
The attacks sparked retaliatory attacks from mainly Muslim armed fighters loyal to the new leadership.
On Tuesday, France said that two of its soldiers have been killed in overnight clashes in Bangui.
Displaced
Taking a sectarian nature, the ongoing conflict in Central Africa Republic has forced thousands of people to escape their homes.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly 108,000 people were displaced to stay in thirty locations across Bangui.
“This brings to more than half a million the total number of people displaced within CAR since the crisis began in December 2012,” UNHCR spokesperson in Geneva, Adrian Edwards said, UN News centre reported.
“People there are sleeping in the open and it is raining. Many of the displaced spend the night in the sites, and then return home during the day,
“But because they fear nightly attacks by armed elements, they go back to the IDP sites before the 6 pm curfew.”
UNHCR said the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are staying mainly in churches, mosques, public buildings and the airport.
Living conditions are “appalling” in many of the sites hosting the displaced, particularly at the airport and at a local monastery.
“People there are sleeping in the open and it is raining. Many of the displaced spend the night in the sites, and then return home during the day,” Edwards said.
“But because they fear nightly attacks by armed elements, they go back to the IDP sites before the 6 pm curfew.”
The increasingly sectarian nature of the violence has heightened international fears that the nation was on the brink of all-out civil war.
The country of nearly five million people is mostly Christian, with about 15 percent Muslims who are concentrated in the north where the rebellion started.
The different religions have always coexisted peacefully and leaders from both sides have urged people not to confuse the fact that there is a Muslim leader, with the “Islamization” of the country.
Source: OnIslam
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