At least ten die in Central Africa Republic unrest: police
At least ten die in Central Africa Republic unrest: police
i24news, 07 Mar 2016
URL: http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/africa/105395-160307-at-least-ten-die-in-central-africa-republic-unrest-police
The unrest started with the March 2 killing of two young Muslims by unidentified assailants
At least ten people have been killed in clashes between rival militia groups in Central African Republic which began with the March 2 killing of two young Muslims by unidentified assailants, police told AFP on Monday.
A police spokeswoman said the violence in the eastern town of Bambari appeared to be "in reprisal" for those earlier deaths which came just days after Faustin-Archange Touadera's election as president.
"We currently have a tally of ten dead, including the two young Muslims whose death sparked off" the violence, the spokeswoman said, adding "a majority" of the victims were civilians.
Observers had hoped Touadera's accession to power on February 20 would close a three-year spiral of violence between Muslim and Christian militias that left thousands dead and displaced more than 400,000 people in one of the world's poorest nations.
Mining town Bambari is a stronghold of mainly Muslim former Seleka rebels. The city was the site of numerous inter-ethnic confrontations which left hundreds dead across 2014 and 2015 and forced thousands to flee.
But the violence receded under a transitional regime supported by international peacekeepers, notably deployed by former colonial power France, and the United Nations.
Touadera, a former prime minister during the 10-year reign of Francois Bozize, whose ousting in 2013 triggered the unrest, takes over a country rich in natural resources but mired in biting poverty as it seeks to rise above ethnic strife.
At least ten people have been killed in clashes between rival militia groups in Central African Republic which began with the March 2 killing of two young Muslims by unidentified assailants, police told AFP on Monday.
A police spokeswoman said the violence in the eastern town of Bambari appeared to be "in reprisal" for those earlier deaths which came just days after Faustin-Archange Touadera's election as president.
"We currently have a tally of ten dead, including the two young Muslims whose death sparked off" the violence, the spokeswoman said, adding "a majority" of the victims were civilians.
Observers had hoped Touadera's accession to power on February 20 would close a three-year spiral of violence between Muslim and Christian militias that left thousands dead and displaced more than 400,000 people in one of the world's poorest nations.
Mining town Bambari is a stronghold of mainly Muslim former Seleka rebels. The city was the site of numerous inter-ethnic confrontations which left hundreds dead across 2014 and 2015 and forced thousands to flee.
But the violence receded under a transitional regime supported by international peacekeepers, notably deployed by former colonial power France, and the United Nations.
Touadera, a former prime minister during the 10-year reign of Francois Bozize, whose ousting in 2013 triggered the unrest, takes over a country rich in natural resources but mired in biting poverty as it seeks to rise above ethnic strife.