Big News Network.com Monday 28th April, 2014
BANGUI, Central African Republic - Hundreds of Muslim men and women have been allegedly forced out from a Christian-dominated town in the Central African Republic as escalated religious violence has left at least 22 people, including three local staff of a global medical charity group, dead.
According to media reports, peacekeeping troops escorted about 1,300 Muslims out of Bangui Sunday. As soon as they left homes, some armed men went on a looting rampage in the capital of a nation battling deadly religious violence.
The migration of Muslims came a day after an attack Saturday in Nanga Boguila, about 450 km north of Bangui, left at least 22 people dead. They included 15 local chiefs and three staff members of the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Reuters cited Gilles Xavier Nguembassa, a former member of parliament for the area, saying that four people were killed as the attackers approached the town.
But most died when Seleka rebels went to an MSF-run health clinic in search of money, he said, adding that the attack took place when local chiefs were holding a meeting there.
"Fifteen of the local chiefs were killed on the spot," Reuters quoted him as saying. He cited witnesses to confirm the casualty figures. A local representative of the Bangui government confirmed the incident.
A spokesman for MSF confirmed the deaths of its staff but gave no further details.
Some 2,000 French and over 5,000 African peacekeepers are struggling to contain violence that has gripped the country over the last 18 months.
In Bangui, the New York Times said, peacekeepers stood by as Christians, some armed with machetes and bows and arrows, swarmed into and picked apart houses in the PK12 neighborhood, which had been a Muslim stronghold in the majority-Christian south.
"We are leaving to save our lives," said Mohamed Ali Mohamed, who was born and brought up in the area.
Some of the departing Muslims burned their cars, as they could not take them in the convoy but did not want Christians to be able to use them once they had left, according to the Times.
Mainly Muslim rebels seized Bangui last year after complaining of marginalization by President Franois Bozize's government. Their time in power was marked by abuses and killings that led to the creation of Christian self-defense militias.
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