REPUBLIQUE CENTRAFRICAINE : GENOCIDE RELIGIEUX ?
280 dead in latest violence since Muslim coup in Central African Republic
Posted on December 7, 2013
by creepingsharia
Some quick background: Violence Escalates In Central African Republic; U.N. OKs Troops
Brutal sectarian violence has engulfed the mostly Christian country since March, when the first Muslim leader assumed power after a coup.
Armed gangs of Muslim extremists joined by mercenaries from neighboring countries now control most of the country.
Seleka fighters reportedly have swollen to
25,000 strong since a few thousand helped former rebel leader Michel
Djotodia seize power. Djotodia says he no longer has any control over
them.
The U.N. estimates at least 400,000 people
— nearly one-tenth of the population — have been displaced. Rape is
rampant. UNICEF says thousands of children are being forced to fight.
Slaughter, rape and torture are widely reported.
Armed Christian forces are fighting back.
BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP)
–
Thousands of Christian civilians sought refuge at an airport guarded by
French soldiers Friday, fleeing from the mostly Muslim ex-rebels with
machetes and guns who rule the country a day after the worst violence to
hit the chaotic capital in nine months.
When several French helicopters landed at
the airport, people sang with joy as they banged on plastic buckets and
waved rags into the air in celebration.
Outside the barbed wire fences of the
airport, bodies lay decomposing along the roads in a capital too
dangerous for many to collect the corpses. Thursday’s clashes left at
least 280 dead, according to national radio, and have raised fears that
waves of retaliatory attacks could soon follow.
“They are slaughtering us like chickens,” said Appolinaire Donoboy, a Christian whose family remained in hiding.
France had pledged to increase its
presence in its former colony well before Christian militias attacked
the capital at dawn Thursday. The arrival of additional French troops
and equipment came as the capital teetered on the brink of total anarchy
and represented the greatest hope for many Central Africans.
About 1,000 French forces were expected to
be on the ground by Friday evening, a French defense official said on
condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on
the matter.
As night fell across the near anarchic
capital, Christians fearing retaliatory attacks by the mostly Muslim
ex-rebels crowded as close to the runway as possible, laying out their
woven mats in front of a barbed wire coiled fence. National radio
announced that at least 280 people had died, citing figures from local
Red Cross officials.
The U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” by the violence and praised France’s quick intervention.
France signaled its amped up presence in
its former colony on Friday by sending out armored vehicles to patrol
the streets. A French fighter jet made several flyovers, roaring through
the sky over an otherwise lifeless capital as civilians cowered at
home. Britain also flew in a C-17 plane Friday loaded with equipment to
help with France’s intervention.
As many as 250 French troops are carrying
out permanent patrols in Bangui, and “we didn’t notice any direct
clashes between armed groups today,” said French military spokesman Col.
Gilles Jaron in Paris.
On Thursday, however, 10 armed attackers
in a pickup truck fired on a French position at the airport, including
with a rocket-propelled grenade whose charge did not detonate. French
forces returned fire, killing four attackers and wounding six, Jaron
said.
A planned vote on a U.N. Security Council
resolution Thursday allowed France to proceed with its mission. It
coincided with the worst violence to roil the capital since March when
the mostly Muslim rebels known as Seleka overthrew the president of a
decade.
On Thursday, Christian militias believed
to be loyal to ousted leader Francois Bozize attacked the city, and
hours of gunbattles ensued.
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