Tag Archives: Bangui

Religion + Belief

Central African Republic News | Muslims & Christians

Violence in the C.A.R. capital of Bangui fuels fears of return of religious violence
  • Dozens were killed in fighting that showed signs of the religious divisions between the country’s Muslims and Christians responsible for the deaths of thousands and displacement of nearly a million from 2012 to 2014.
  • An estimated 27,000 fled the recent violence for a camp for the internally displaced near Bangui’s airport.
  • Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza denounced the violence as an attempted coup meant to disrupt elections set to be held in mid-October and late November.

Read more:
“Dozens Killed in Clashes in Central African Republic” (The New York Times)
“RCA: retour de Samba-Panza à Bangui dans un calme relatif” (Radio France Internationale, in French)
“RCA: Samba-Panza dénonce une tentative de coup d’Etat” (Radio France Internationale, in French)

(Image Credit: Edouard Dropsy/AFP/Getty Images, via The New York Times)

Religion + Belief

C.A.R. Feature | Muslims & Christians

Connecting the Living through the Dead

Image Credit: Laurent Correau/RFI
Image Credit: Laurent Correau/RFI

Situated in the Boeing neighborhood of the Central African Republic capital Bangui, a Muslim cemetery that was long the stronghold of Christian anti-balaka militants found itself in need of repair. RFI highlights how the situation provided a unique opportunity for the city’s Christian community to help their Muslim brethren clear not only the weeds of the burial plots, but the divisions between their communities as well.

« Nous sommes en train de désherber sur le cimetière musulman de Boeing. Je suis un chrétien. Ce qui m’a poussé à venir travailler, main dans la main avec les musulmans, c’est la cohésion sociale. Si nous sommes réunis, c’est parce que nous voulons que la paix revienne dans notre pays et pour éviter les problèmes qui se posent encore dans notre pays »

Translation: “We’re pulling weeds in Boeing’s Muslim cemetery. I’m a Christian. What pushed me to come to work, hand in hand with Muslims, is social cohesion. If we’re gathered, it’s because we want peace to return to our country and to avoid the problems that still come up in our country.”

Read the full feature at Radio France Internationale (in French).