ICC Note: Three of Central African Republics top religious leaders have worked hard to end the fighting in their country. The one Muslim and Two Christian leader said that the ongoing conflict is not an interreligious fight, but rather a political one. They have called on those fighting to stop using religious reasons for fighting.

06/04/2018 CAR (World Watch Monitor) – The three top faith leaders of the Central African Republic (CAR), who have won international recognition for their efforts to end conflict in the country, have blamed foreign mercenaries for a recent upsurge in violence.

One month ago today, the relative calm enjoyed by the capital, Bangui, was shattered when armed men from the predominantly Muslim neighbourhood of PK5 stormed a church during Mass, killing 17 including a prominent priest.

The violence that followed, the worst to hit the capital in recent years, brought back memories of the earliest days of the conflict, when Séléka rebels entered Bangui in March 2013, and the failed attempt by self-defence militias (known as Anti-balaka, or ‘Anti-machete’) to oust the rebels from the capital in December 2013.

Retaliatory attacks on the PK5 neighbourhood led to further deaths: officially 24 people were killed and 170 others were injured, but sources contacted by World Watch Monitor said the figures were higher. Two mosques were torched and many people saw their properties looted and set on fire.

Political and religious leaders were unanimous in their condemnation of the violence and called for restraint.

The recent upsurge of violence has also hit Bambari, CAR’s second city, where security forces have clashed with members of the UPC rebel group, formed predominantly of fighters from the now-disbanded Séléka. For years, Bambari was considered by the UN as a weapon-free city, where the presence of armed men was forbidden.

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