Soldiers of the multinational force of central Africa, FOMAC, patrol on October 7, 2024 in Bangui.AFP PHOTO / ISSOUF SANOGO
Approximately sixty people were killed in fighting in the Central African Republic this week, six months after the Séléka alliance, which includes Islamist militias from Sudan and Chad, seized the capital Bangui and ousted President François Bozize.
Clashes began on Monday, when local self-defense militias attacked a Séléka base near the north-western mining village of Gaga, before then targeting Muslim civilians. In retaliation, Séléka rebels attacked Gaga’s Christian community, reportedly going door to door. Most villagers have since fled to neighboring communes. The preceding week saw inter-religious strife erupt as well: at least 14 were killed in altercations between Muslim and Christian communities in the eastern village of Bangassou.
The renewed violence hints at a worrying intensification of interfaith tensions in the impoverished country. Though the C.A.R. is no stranger to insecurity — thanks in large part to conflicts bleeding over from neighboring Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo — its large Christian population (roughly half of its 4.5 million inhabitants) and Muslim minority (15%) have largely coexisted in peace. Now, the specter of a sustained interfaith divide looms large.
Long preoccupied with crises in Syria and Mali, the United Nations is mulling action in the C.A.R. - slowly. On Thursday, the body is expected to vote on a resolution to “explore” support for an African peacekeeping mission known as MISCA, which could possibly transform into a U.N. peacekeeping operation “subject to appropriate conditions on the ground”. A lot of ifs in there.
Debate over the U.N. resolution comes after strong pressure from France, which has warned that the C.A.R. risks descending into Somalia-style anarchy. But while both President François Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius have urged immediate action, neither seems willing to get their own feet wet. True, Fabius is traveling to Bangui on Sunday to evaluate the crisis in person. But the Elysée has made little attempt to hide its reluctance to expand its skeletal force (currently guarding the Bangui airport), calling instead on African nations to intervene.
In the meanwhile, interim president — and former coup leader — Michel Djotodia has pushed for a semblance of political legitimacy, dissolving the Séléka coalition, calling for an end to violence, and dismissing his former Séléka allies from his cabinet. But even the ex-rebel chief can’t control his former troops. In six months, the number of rebels has jumped from 5,000 to 25,000.
And while international attention is refocused on the C.A.R., there is little sign that its S.O.S. will be answered any time soon. Neither the MISCA mission nor the proposed U.N. force will be operational before 2014. Until then, a small regional force is charged with keeping the peace; it numbers a scant 1,100 soldiers. Which leaves Séléka rebels — and religious tensions — plenty of time to take a deeper hold on the war-torn nation.
