Central African Republic (CAR) is a poor and conflict-wracked French-speaking, mostly Christian (76%) landlocked state. CAR’s 13.8 percent Muslim minority lives mostly in the northernmost prefecture of Vakaga, wedged between Chad and Darfur, Sudan.
In December 2012, a very well-equipped Islamic army named Seleka – an alliance of local and foreign (mostly Chadian and Sudanese) Islamic militias – embarked on a campaign to rape, butcher, loot and kill its way across Central African Republic. For months, the government of CAR pleaded for assistance from France (the former colonial power, which already had troops stationed in the country) and the US – but to no avail. South Africa alone provided assistance, but it was not enough. On Sunday 24 March 2013, Seleka (which means “alliance”) stormed and seized control of the capital, Bangui. The horrific fighting which ensued has totally shredded the social fabric of the state.
See: Churches targeted as Muslim rebels seize Bangui in an orgy of raping, killing and looting.
By Elizabeth Kendal, 13 May 2013.
Today, CAR remains divided between a government-controlled south and a chaotic, lawless, Islamic militant occupied north (includes the resource-rich centre, where militias are fighting each other for control of gold and diamond mines).
Hundreds of thousands of civilians remain displaced, dependent on humanitarian aid, and gravely imperilled. Even the capital, Bangui, remains imperilled. It is It is a Christian crisis of monumental proportions.
Recommended:
Central African Republic: help needed to avert civil war and disintegration.
By Elizabeth Kendal, 18 May 2017.
