Displaying items by tag: Central African Republic

While the 2019 peace agreement signed in the CAR was a step forward, it has not yet been fully implemented, as militia attacks continued to occur. Pray for meaningful dialogue between state and non-state armed participants that would enable the agreement to succeed. The Chinese, the Russians, the UN peacekeeping forces (MINUSCA), the rebels, and the political authorities are all out to plunder what they can of the mineral riches of the country. The people have eyes only to weep. When will this nightmare ever come to an end? Pray that peace, stability and justice will come soon, for the sake of the civilians who continue to suffer immensely. Although a special criminal court was set up in 2015 to investigate and prosecute grave human rights violations, it lacks funding : so countless victims of violence are waiting for justice. Pray that the court will be fully financed, so that all perpetrators are held to account.

CAR descended into civil war in 2012, displacing a quarter of the country's 4.7 million population, with fighting often erupting over gold, diamonds and uranium. Democratic elections in 2016 were a step forward for this impoverished African state, but peace and development remain elusive especially outside the capital, Bangui. Both Muslim and Christian militias kill, rob and rape and keep the nation fragile and insecure. Six hundred thousand people have been chased from their homes. The large majority profess Christianity. A purified and strengthened Church could be a great force for good in the nation. Seven peace agreements were tried, but have failed to end one of Africa's bloodiest conflicts. The latest one was signed in February; by the first week in March it was at risk of collapsing as three of the 14 armed groups that signed the Khartoum agreement disagreed with the makeup of the new government. See http://www.operationworld.org/country/cent/owtext.html

90% of CAR’s population are Christian; Islam is practised by 9%. All the people are suffering. As a new round of peace talks between armed groups and the government began on 22 January, the UN’s top humanitarian official in CAR warned that continued violence could push the country closer to famine. Around 2.9 million people (63% of the population) need humanitarian assistance and protection. Of those, 1.9 million require acute and immediate aid. Food security and protection are the main concerns. Increasing levels of violence drive the ongoing crisis, with near-constant conflict since 2012. Although a peace agreement was reached in 2013, rebels seized the capital two months later, forcing President Bozizé to flee. Rival militias have fought each other ever since. Much of the country is overrun with armed groups, despite the 2016 election of President Touadéra.

Five new reports - about Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Colombia and the Central African Republic - unmask the multiple domestic, societal and state dynamics used in the persecution of Christian women and girls in each country. When viewed individually, the tactics used - from subtle discrimination surrounding access to education, through to extreme violence - appear unrelated. But now each of these reports, by Open Doors International, catalogues the inter-related web of dynamics and tactics, and highlights the ‘domino’ impact of simultaneous persecuting events. The resulting picture is akin to the anguish caused by a thousand paper cuts, plus (all too often) much deeper wounds. While men often face much more obvious and public forms of pressure and persecution for their faith, women’s suffering is often in daily life. For further information from these reports, click the ‘More’ button.

More than forty people were killed in a militia attack on a Christian mission in Alindao, around 180 miles east of CAR’s capital Bangui, on 15 November. The attackers torched a church and forced 20,000 displaced persons who were sheltering in an adjacent compound to flee. A local politician told journalists, 'We have counted 42 bodies so far, and we are still searching for others. The camp has been burned to the ground, and people fled into the bush.' Christian-majority CAR has been wracked by violence since 2012, when Seleka Islamists overthrew the government. The deployment of a UN international peace-keeping force and repeated negotiated ceasefires between the government and armed groups have had little impact on the ground.

Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Imam Oumar Kobine Layama and Rev Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou have international recognition for their peacekeeping efforts, and have blamed foreign mercenaries for an upsurge in violence. The so-called 'Christian rebels', the Anti-balaka, wear occult charms around their necks and fight with knives, clubs, rifles and machetes to rid the south of Muslims. The Bambari cathedral was looted, as were the bases of nine NGOs including the National Commission for Refugees. The clerics called all armed groups to lay down weapons, stop illegal exploitation of natural resources, and have ‘frank and inclusive dialogue’. The UN reported that 37,000 people, displaced by recent violence, are living in nine camps. The Red Cross said Muslim and Christian communities in Bambari want to live peaceably but are driven apart by violence and revenge attacks that trigger more assaults, making it harder to persuade people to live side-by-side again. See

Gabriel Ole, an elder in Bangui Baptist church, worked for UNICEF. He was killed in a violent ambush in the Central African Republic (CAR), along with two officials from the ministry of education and three UNICEF workers travelling to Markounda near the north-western border with Chad. Some of the victims were shot dead, others had their throats slit. Their car was torched. CAR’s prime minister, Simplice Matthieu Sarandji, honoured the victims during his visit on 6 March when he said, ‘School is the key to developing a country. Any attack against teachers is a crime against the education of our children’. Pray for an end to senseless acts against aid workers who are only there to improve the lives of vulnerable people. Pray for those mourning the loss of loved ones.

Religious leaders have achieved a truce between rebel groups in the Central African Republic through a ‘spiritually inspired’ method.

JUNE 20, 2017 —One of Africa’s worst conflicts may have finally ended through a rare type of diplomacy. On June 19, more than a dozen armed groups in the Central African Republic signed a peace accord. Yet they did not do so through an official negotiator. Rather a religious group in Italy used what it calls a “spiritually inspired” method – building empathy and compassion – to help forge a truce.

This diplomatic feat was achieved by the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Roman Catholic lay group that works quietly and discreetly around the world to end conflicts. It puts prayer at the heart of its mediation. Its efforts have been so successful that the United Nations formally signed an agreement on June 9 to cooperate with Sant’Egidio in ending other conflicts. Its president, Marco Impagliazzo, says the group’s success lies in being seen as a neutral party that relies on patience and shared values to create trust between foes.

A Dutch scholar, Gerrie ter Haar, explains such faith-based diplomacy: “Bringing the spiritual dimension into the peacemaking process can create access to the more deep-seated, affective base of the parties’ behavior, enabling them to examine critically their own attitudes and actions.”

The conflict in the Central African Republic erupted in 2013 when the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels took power, triggering violent reprisals by militia groups that are nominally Christian. As many as 6,000 people have died. From the start, however, local religious leaders – Islamic, Catholic, and Protestant – played a key part in protecting civilians and initiating talks. They described their “weapons” as “prayer and dialogue.”

As fears of genocide grew, however, the UN, France, and the African Union sent in troops to quell the fighting. This allowed the election of a new president last year, although his influence barely extends beyond the capital. When fighting erupted again in May and more than 100,000 people had to flee, Sant’Egidio was able to bring 13 rebel groups to Rome for talks and reach a deal.

Many details of the pact still need to be implemented. And victims of the violence await the establishment of a commission to document the atrocities and achieve a level of justice and social reconciliation.

But the country, which is one of the poorest in Africa, is now rebuilding. And that is due in part to a type of conflict resolution that uses spiritual qualities to transcend divisions and end wars.

Let us rejoice that united prayer can be used of the Lord to heal conflicts and begin to pray for those areas of the world where there are ongoing conflicts.

The mayor of a town in Central African Republic (CAR) said on 21 June that over a hundred people are dead after heavy fighting broke out, despite a peace agreement signed recently in Rome. Also, several dozen wounded have been brought to the hospital run by aid group Doctors Without Borders. However, the local Catholic mission says the death toll could be higher because it has been too dangerous for Red Cross teams to recover bodies from the streets. CAR is a country teetering on the edge of becoming a failed state. Half a million of the country's people have fled to neighbouring nations; a similar number are huddled in squalid camps inside CAR, dependent on food aid and the protection of UN peacekeepers and 900 French troops. CAR has faced fighting since 2013, when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the capital city, Bangui. Anti-Balaka militias, mostly Christians, fought back, resulting in thousands of people being killed. The peace deal signed on 19 June between nearly all the country's armed groups had called for an immediate cease-fire.