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Violence soars in Central African Republic
October 19, 2015, 8:52 pm

Thousands have died in CAR since Christian militias were formed to fight the Muslim Seleka Coalition [Xinhua]

Thousands have died in CAR since Christian militias were formed to fight the Muslim Seleka Coalition [Xinhua]


In a further blow to international efforts to stabilize the Central African Republic, Christian anti-Balaka militia – who have been blamed for ethnic violence targeting Muslims – kidnapped the country’s vice-president after disarming her security guards.

Léa Koyassoum Doumta was released by the militia shortly thereafter with a list of demands, including the release of incarcerated Christian fighters.

The brief kidnapping comes as tit-for-tat Christian versus Muslim violence appears to have resurged in the troubled African nation.

On Thursday and Friday, three people were killed when clashes broke out between the ethnic militias after a group of young Muslim boys were attacked.

Last month, a Muslim man was decapitated near a mosque in the capital Bangui, sparking revenge attacks which killed at least 50 people.

The uptick in violence, which had been reduced when UN and African Union troops increased their presence in the country last year, prompted interim President Catherine Samba-Panza earlier in the month to postpone general elections originally scheduled for October 18.

The current crisis in CAR – a mineral rich nation of 4.6 million people – began when Seleka – a rebel amalgamation of several different factions – started moving toward the capital Bangui in March 2012, hoping to remove Francois Bozize, a military officer who seized power in 2003 and had been elected president twice since then.

The largely Muslim rebel group Seleka seized control of the Christian-majority country in the aftermath, and in some instances attacked and killed Christian civilians.

Early in January 2014, the country’s National Assembly selected Catherine Samba-Panza to be the next president replacing Michel Djotodia – a Muslim, and former Seleka comander – who fled the capital Bangui to Benin in early 2014.

His departure was marked by the increase of Christian militia attacks against Muslim citizens, claiming to be avenging crimes committed by the Seleka rebel militias in 2013.

In October 2014, the UN said that the capital Bangui had been almost entirely purged of its Muslim population.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies