BANGUI, Central African Republic Residents say violence returned to a neighborhood of Central African Republics capital.
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Fighting in the capital of the Central African Republic over the weekend has killed at least 21 people and wounded another 100 after a Muslim taxi driver was killed and found dumped in the street.
United Nations helicopters with a peacekeeping force flew overhead but witnesses said little was done to stop the clashes.
“Enough is enough. We want (President Catherine) Samba-Panza to go”, one protester told Reuters.
Gunfire was heard in particular near a central police station in Bangui, they said, adding that several shops and homes were looted during the dusk-to-dawn curfew.
These rebels are mostly Muslims from the north of the country, where people have long complained of being neglected by various Christian-dominated governments that have ruled the former French colony since independence in 1960. The worker spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
The country is in the grips of its own disaster where the confrontation between the Muslim groups Seleka and the mainly Christian and animist group anti-Balaka is committing serious human rights violations.
Security Minister Dominique Said Paguindji said on state radio Sunday that the violence was meant to upset the transitional government put in place in January 2014, as it prepares for October elections.
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The chronically unstable country descended into bloodshed after a 2013 coup ousted longtime leader Francois Bozize, and it remains prey to violence between Muslim Seleka rebels and Christian militias known as the “anti-balaka”, or anti-machete.
