“In the capital Bangui, there has been shooting on the streets and people hacked to death with machetes,” said Renee Lambert, Catholic Relief Service’s country manager in the Central African Republic. “Tens of thousands of people are camped out at makeshift (internally displaced person) camps throughout the city or sheltering with host families, hoping that the arriving French troops can quell the violence.” Lambert said that the “people of C.A.R. have been living in a state of perpetual fear and uncertainty for almost a year now,” and the situation has become “desperate.”
The Central African Republic was engulfed in a war from 2004 to 2007, but violence broke out again in December, 2012. On March 24, Seleka rebels ousted the President and installed their own leader in a coup. The Seleka have since been officially disbanded, but its members have not been disarmed, and reports indicate that they are continuing to plunder the country through looting, torture and rape.
Of the country’s population of some 4.5M, more than 460,000 have been displaced from their homes by this year’s violence, the U.N. estimates. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told television station France 2 that “the country is on the verge of genocide,” as the violence seems to have become increasingly sectarian, pitting Christians and Muslims against each other.
“The people of C.A.R. need our help,” stressed Lambert. “We cannot turn away from what is happening here – it cannot be ignored … if we stand aside and watch, we will never forgive ourselves.”
Both France and the African Union have increased the presence of their forces in the nation, in an effort to contain the violence. France has deployed 1,600 soldiers to the Central African Republic, and the African Union is increasing the size of its force in the country from 2,500 to 6,000.
Abbot Dieu-Béni Mbanga, who is chancellor of the Bangui archdiocese, explained in letters that violence erupted in earnest in the capital. “Some residents caught between warring parties stayed holed up at home; others found refuge in churches and with religious communities. By mid-morning, the parishes of St. John of Galabadja and Bangui’s Cathedral of Our Lady, The Immaculate had taken in some 1,000 people.” Four more parishes in the Bangui archdiocese received more than 10,000 additional displaced persons, he reported. “Church facilities also took in the wounded who have been without medical care until now.”
Last Dec. 7, the bishops of the Central African Republic stated: “We condemn the transgressions committed by both armed factions, the anti-balaka and the ex-Seleka.” The bishops added that the fighting is not solely divided by religion, explaining that “not all anti-balaka are Christians and that not all Christians are anti-balaka,” and that “the same is true for ex-Seleka and Muslims.”
The Central African Republic is among the world’s poorest countries, with extremely low human development and major human rights abuses; the U.N. has indicated it is in danger of becoming a failed state. More than one million are in urgent need of food aid. It borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, and South Sudan, many of which have experienced dramatic upheavals of their own, in recent years.
