Archbishop of Bangui: CAR urgently needs UN peacekeeping force

Catholic and Muslim leaders in the Central African Republic warn that the nation is on the brink of a full-scale sectarian war and urgently needs a UN peacekeeping force.

The appeal came from Archbishop Dieudonné Nzapalainga of Bangui and Imam Oumar Kobine Layama, the President of the country’s Islamic community.

The former French colony plunged into armed conflict, after a largely Muslim rebel group known as Seleka ousted President Francois Bozizé last March.

As the fighting continues, more than two million people, close to half of the population, are in desperate need of aid. Hundreds have died in the violence and more than 400 thousand people have been displaced.

Listen to the following report by Susy Hodges:

In an interview with Vatican Radio, the head of the Catholic Church in the Central African Republic (CAR), Archbishop Nzapalainga said his nation needs more peacekeeping troops to try to halt the “violence, barbaric acts and killings” which are tearing the country apart. He describes how the nation is locked into a vicious cycle of revenge killings and hatred and says “the darkness is all around us.” The archbishop, along with the most senior Imam and Protestant leaders, tried to head off the sectarian tensions between Christians and Muslims which they could see brewing across their homeland.

When the killing began, Archbishop Nzapalainga opened his church to hundreds of Christian families fleeing the Muslim militias hunting them. But, in a more unusual step, he also provided refugee to a friend and partner, the most senior Muslim cleric in the CAR, Imam Oumar Layama, who was under threat himself from vengeful Christians. Archbishop Nzapalainga told us that Imam Layama is still being sheltered at the Archbishopric.

Asked about the situation outside the capital Bangui, Archbishop Nzapalainga said he was in regular touch with the regional bishops and said the situation in the rest of the country was a source of "great concern" to them. He spoke of many villages in the countryside being attacked and set on fire by armed groups, with the population fleeing in terror to the bush to hide there.