Over 70 killed during clashes in Central African Republic town: official

[xenon54 out]

(Reuters) - At least 70 people have been killed and dozens of houses torched in clashes between Muslim and Christian communities in a town in Central African Republic, a local police official said on Monday.

The scale of the violence underscores the challenge facing French and African peacekeepers trying to restore order to a country that has been torn apart by inter-communal violence since mainly Muslim rebels seized power in March.

The leader of the rebel force, known as Seleka, stepped down as president last month, having come under intense international criticism for failing to stem waves of killings that killed hundreds and displaced about 1 million, about a quarter of the country's population.

But their retreat from power and the deployment of thousands of international troops has not halted the violence.

Elie Mbailao, police commissioner of Mbaiki, about 100 km (62 miles) from the area around the town of Boda where the killings took place, said Christians attacked Muslims after Seleka passed through.

"The mayor (of Boda) has told me that there were more than 70 dead and over 30 houses burned," Mbailao said of violence that began late last week.

Mbailao said that the clashes around the town, some 100 km west of Bangui, involved residents armed with guns and machetes, scenes that have been played out across much of the former French colony over much of the last year.

Abuses by Seleka fighters once they came to power led to mainly Christian self-defense militia springing up.

An attempt to oust Seleka from power in December sparked mass killings and cycles of retaliations that spiraled out of control and prompted U.N. warnings that the country was on brink of genocide.

There are some 1,600 French and about 5,000 African troops deployed in the country but peacekeepers have been focused on restoring order to Bangui and struggled to make their presence felt to the north.

Over 70 killed during clashes in Central African Republic town: official| Reuters


This is how the situation looks like at the moment.

Orta Afrika Cumhuriyet'inden kan donduran görüntüler / 1 - Foto Haber Galeri

 

[al-Hasani]

Sub-Saharan Africa - you just gotta love it.

The Arabs and Europeans should have controlled it for longer. Maybe that might have helped or at least halted the mess that they are mainly in right now and have been in since they gained independency. For a little at least.

 

[Parul]

Rest in peace!

 

[Infoman]

This is central Africa, what did you expect tea and biscuits? they still practice cannibalism

 

[Khan_patriot]

What, agian???

 

[Shah9]

This is not racist but you cant deny this

Central Africa, South Sudanese, Liberia and all the middle parts have animistic attitudes, they are so crazy everywhere even outside. I fear I'll get beaten if I cross a line on those people, or get cannibilized!

The only country in Africa are more comfortable to get along are the East, North and South Africa.

 

[al-Hasani]

This is not racist but you cant deny this

Central Africa, South Sudanese, Liberia and all the middle parts have animistic attitudes, they are so crazy everywhere even outside. I fear I'll get beaten if I cross a line on those people, or get cannibilized!

The only country in Africa are more comfortable to get along are the East, North and South Africa.

Actually it is not THAT bad. I am studying with a Rwanda (don't know the plural form of that) born gentleman that is my age who emigrated to the UK at a early age and later to Denmark. He has since returned on a lot of occasions, often with his Danish and English friends (native ones) to visit extended family. Both his parents perished in that civil war in the 1990's. Apparently the situation has become much more stable overall in Sub-Saharan Africa. They travelled to Kenya and Tanzania as well. Of course most countries are still in horrible conditions but it is slowly getting better.

But he told about how suspected criminals/pedophiles/witches/thiefs etc. are dealt with when mob justice is served cold.

I have noticed that it is mostly somewhat of a African/Latin American phenomenon. Never figured out where that comes from. Seen it in South Asia as well but to a lesser degree.

Necklacing is a favorite of theirs.

It is a horrible way to go.

Necklacing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Embedded media from this media site is no longer available

Warning, not for the light-hearted (18+)

Anyway I "love" how those soldiers/militia are just looking on and even some are enjoying it/taking part. Are they not supposed to protect those people (Muslims, Christians etc. or what they are)?

PS: What is going on with your flags and avatar?

 

[waikici]

Sunnis are beeing oppressed, why KSA don't intervene?

 

[al-Hasani]

@WebMaster @Oscar @nuclearpak @Manticore @Aether @Aeronaut @Jungibaaz

@Sun Piwa aka @elis aka @waikici has returned despite his ban. Time to deal with him once and for all.

 

[waikici]

Elis was banned because he posted some pics of the pussy riots, nothing to see with what he says daily

@al-Hasani

 

[al-Hasani]

Elis was banned because he posted some pics of the pussy riots, nothing to see with what he says daily

@al-Hasani

Are you for real?

Why are you replying to my post like it is some kind of moderator that has hijacked your profile and now replied to my question?

Ca tourne pas rond dans ta tête?

 

[Vinod2070]

Sub-Saharan Africa - you just gotta love it.

The Arabs and Europeans should have controlled it for longer. Maybe that might have helped or at least halted the mess that they are mainly in right now and have been in since they gained independency. For a little at least.

It is quite unfortunate and a human tragedy.

But the comments about "controlling" them are quite despicable. There are people who may not have very high opinions of several other people and regions, Arabs and in fact all non white people included.

No one deserves to be controlled by outsiders. No one is perfect.

They are victims of their circumstances more than anything else. Some others just got lucky else they could have been in worse situation.

 

[waikici]

I've seen it

 

[al-Hasani]

It is quite unfortunate and a human tragedy.

But the comments about "controlling" them are quite despicable. There are people who may not have very high opinions of several other people and regions, Arabs and in fact all non white people included.

No one deserves to be controlled by outsiders. No one is perfect.

They are victims of their circumstances more than anything else. Some others just got lucky else they could have been in worse situation.

Yes, I know that some Africans dislike Arabs, Europeans and other Caucasian people. But in general the relations are very warm. If you look past the Arab slave trade (slave trade was practiced by everyone back then) then the Arabs were good rulers, enabled trade and enriched the areas in Sub-Saharan Africa where they settled/ruled.

The Europeans were also engaged in slavery but commited genocide and other crimes in the process. Hence the hatred there for a large part.

Let me give you a few examples. Arabic is the official lingua franca together with French in Chad. Despite only 12% of the population being Arab. That is the case in most of the Sahel region. Swahili one of the most, if not the most spoken language in Eastern Africa, is full of Arabic words. The name of their language is even of Arabic origins. Arab traders and investors are doing business in Sub-Saharan Africa while we speak and Arab culture, history, language etc. has somewhat of a renascence in those areas where Arab presence was big.

Controlled was a wrong word. They should, especially the Europeans who were their most recently and who controlled all of Africa (nearly), have repaired some of the damage they created. Had they done that it would have been in favor of them and their interests although former colonial powers like the UK and France have considerable influence in Africa right now but it is fading away each year and Africa is a booming market.

But the constant problems, wars, famines, outbreaks of diseases, political coup d'état' after the other, animistic behavior, enormous crime and murder rates etc, extreme corruption, rapid and uncontrolled growth rate. wasting resources, laziness, lacking skilled people etc. is not something that they can blame on others.

I believe that the Europeans in a ideal world should have stayed in Africa for a little longer and given the Sub-Saharan Africans a better chance of handling all the problems independently. But the decolonization happened too fast and we saw what followed. Genocides, constant wars and conflicts, insane dictators, famine outbreaks, extreme corruption, extreme levels of crime etc. You name it.

You could also be of the opinion that the Arabs and Europeans should have not even invaded/visited Sub-Saharan Africa but then they would be living like 10.000 years ago right now. I don't consider Horn of Africa Sub-Saharan Africa and at least they had ancient civilizations (the Semitic ones in Ethiopia) and booming trade routes.

 

[Vinod2070]

Yes, I know that some Africans dislike Arabs, Europeans and other Caucasian people. But in general the relations are very warm. If you look past the Arab slave trade (slave trade was practiced by everyone back then) then the Arabs were good rulers, enabled trade and enriched the areas in Sub-Saharan Africa where they settled/ruled.

The Europeans were also engaged in slavery but commited genocide and other crimes in the process. Hence the hatred there for a large part....

What do you think many people may think about Arabs when they see the events in Syria, Iraq and many other countries like even Saudi. Some of them may be rich (and most people feel it is unearned and undeserved and will not last long) because the Europeans dug out oil from the desert but when they see girls being allowed to burn in a hostel or die of heart attack rather than be seen by males?

As I said, I think all human being are the same at a fundamental level. It is their circumstances that may differ.

I think any slavery whether by Europeans or Arabs of Africans or others (the one by Arabs was far more regressive with the " habshees' " being universally castrated and no trace of them left...)

The difference is Arabs never came to terms with their past and continued with slavery till they were forcefully stopped.

Or the slavery and rapine of of Arabs and shipping their women to Mongolia by the likes of Mongols was equally a historic tragedy.

If you think that Arabs are looked at as a civilizing influence by the rest of the world, you could not be more wrong. I have nothing against Arabs or anyone but this regressive thinking of "controlling" others only gets contempt.

The Arabs were themselves controlled by outsiders for hundreds of years and I am glad that has come to an end.