{"id":34265,"date":"2019-08-07T09:43:12","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T09:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=34265"},"modified":"2019-08-07T09:43:12","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T09:43:12","slug":"central-african-republic-violence-is-not-driven-by-muslim-christian-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2019\/08\/07\/central-african-republic-violence-is-not-driven-by-muslim-christian-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Violence is not driven by Muslim-Christian conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Various media reports suggest that the ongoing crisis in Central African Republic (CAR) is caused by a Muslim-Christian conflict or even Islamist efforts to subdue Christians. That is not the case, said one of the country\u2019s prominent Catholic leaders. The ongoing bloodshed, said Bishop Nestor Nongo-Aziagba of Bossangoa, president of the CAR bishops\u2019 conference, is the result of economic exploitation\u2014the pursuit by both state and non-state actors of the country\u2019s rich diamond and gold deposits. \u201cLet us not use religion to cover up exploitation,\u201d he said speaking\u00a0 with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) during a recent visit to Washington, D.C, where he attended the second annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom which brought together some 1,000 religious leaders\u00a0 and representatives of government and non-governmental organizations, including ACN.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bishop Nongo said that speaking about the conflict in CAR in terms of a clash of Islam and Christianity is \u201ca diversion, a digression from the real problem of poverty, illiteracy and a lack of justice\u201d as evident in the impunity of numerous murderous rebel groups, he added that CAR is in the grips of \u201ca political crisis, not a religious crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In late 2012, several Muslim militia merged into the group Seleka (which means \u201calliance\u201d) and attacked and destroyed non-Muslim villages, which prompted the formation of the so-called anti-Balaka, a group of largely non-Muslim militia, which included many Christians. A bloody conflict began, with both groups terrorizing both the Christian and Muslim population, causing enormous suffering and upheaval.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The record of United Nations peace-keeping forces in CAR is spotty at best. According to Human Rights Watch, there were more than 640,000 Internally Displaced People in 2018, while the UN put the number of people who fled the country at almost 570,000.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Seleka militia\u2014 now \u201cex-Seleka\u201d, because it split into different Muslim militias\u2014\u201care rebels who are here to exploit, not to convert, \u201csaid Bishop Nongo, adding that these militia \u201care hurting Christians and Muslims alike.\u201d More than two-thirds of the militia are Muslim mercenaries from Chad, Niger, Cameroon and elsewhere, said the bishop. However, they are not driven by an Islamist agenda, having discovered the country\u2019s mineral wealth and seizing opportunities to enrich themselves. Many militia members moreover are not practicing Islam.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Just as the Seleka paint themselves as protectors of CAR\u2019s Muslim majority, so the anti-Balaka proclaim they are defending the interests of the country\u2019s Catholic majority. Both sides distort the truth, said Bishop Nongo, who charged that various rebel groups benefit from the direct or indirect support of countries like Russia and China, and even Western nations\u2014all out to reap the benefits of CAR\u2019s mineral wealth.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The country\u2019s major challenge, according to the bishop, is to restore security, so that people can go home again and return to their means of livelihood, and that they \u201cmay live without being afraid of another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile many adults as well as children and youth are joining militia because of the increasing poverty, the lack of education, the loss of their homes and the fear of new attacks. \u201cWe must bring an end to the people\u2019s frustration with the brokenness of the country\u201d, said Bishop Nongo. The weakness of the government of CAR is evident in the fact that the country has \u201chardly any roads, and that some 80 percent of the country is controlled by rebel groups\u201d: in the northeast of CAR, locals trade with Sudan and are using Sudanese currency; in the southeast of the country, economic activity is centered on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with DRC currency in local use. The bishop asks: \u201cwhere is our state\u2019s sovereignty?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Church in CAR is strongly committed to foster Muslim-Christian dialogue, said Bishop Nongo, a dialogue \u201cof living together, of meeting together\u201d and showing each other respect. It is crucial, he said, that Christians and Muslims show that they are united\u201d in opposition to violence perpetrated in their name.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In February 2019, the CAR government signed a peace agreement in Khartoum, Sudan, with more than a dozen rebel groups. But Bishop Nongo is dubious about the long-term impact of the peace treaty, as the various militia signatories \u201cinterpret the agreement in conflicting ways.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cAs a good Christian, I have hope for the future,\u201d said Bishop Nongo, but \u201cI have to be realistic: it is proving to be very difficult to overcome the violence of the past seven years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>\u2014Joop Koopman<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Various media reports suggest that the ongoing crisis in Central African Republic (CAR) is caused by a Muslim-Christian conflict or even Islamist efforts to subdue Christians. That is not the case, said one of the country\u2019s prominent Catholic leaders. The ongoing bloodshed, said Bishop Nestor Nongo-Aziagba of Bossangoa, president of the CAR bishops\u2019 conference, is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Violence is not driven by Muslim-Christian conflict - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2019\/08\/07\/central-african-republic-violence-is-not-driven-by-muslim-christian-conflict\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Violence is not driven by Muslim-Christian conflict - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Various media reports suggest that the ongoing crisis in Central African Republic (CAR) is caused by a Muslim-Christian conflict or even Islamist efforts to subdue Christians. 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