The United States has condemned the continuing violence in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic that started since last Friday. The violence has sparked fears that Samba-Panza could be overthrown.
Advertisement
The United Nations called for the “immediate end to the sudden eruption of violence” and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “strongly condemns all acts of violence”.
“MINUSCA protected the presidency but did not kill protesters”, said Myriam Dessables, a spokeswoman for the mission, told The Associated Press by telephone.
“There is no one in the prison”, a senior gendarmerie source told Reuters. “The attacks were repulsed, causing a few fatalities among the assailants”, added the source, without providing further details.
PK-5 was the epicentre of an unprecedented wave of violence between Christians and Muslims in late 2013 and early past year. It remains the last bastion for Muslims hounded from other districts by Christian “anti-balaka” militias.
After the break-up of the protest, shooting broke out elsewhere in the city, and the hospital source said a teenager had died after being hit by “a stray bullet”.
Vehicle plunged into bloodshed more than two years ago after a coup ousted longtime leader Francois Bozize.
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.
U.S. Marines have evacuated two staffers with the global Organization for Migration – one German and one American – amid the violence, the organization said in a statement.
Fighting and numerous roadblocks which have sprung up have made an already hard humanitarian situation worse, impeding the ability of UNHCR and partners to gain access to thousands of internally displaced people and assess needs.
In Bangui, shots continued to ring out even after the 05:00 GMT lifting of a dusk-to-dawn curfew, following a night of sporadic shooting as security forces sought to repel looters, an AFP correspondent said.
“Attacks on the civilian populations and the targeting of humanitarian workers whose aim is to deliver lifesaving aid must stop immediately”, the European Union said in a statement.
“The overwhelming majority of citizens of the country deserve and demand an end to conflict and division between communities for the country’s prospects for peace and recovery”, it added.
It has been led by a transitional government since January 2014, and was expected to vote in presidential polls scheduled for October 18 but now widely expected to be postponed. “The people especially need to be reassured, I think I have to go to Bangui to reassure the Central African people”.
Advertisement
BANGUI – Tension and fear on Monday gripped Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic (CAR), with the city’s main streets closed by barricades after a spate of violence, looting and the death of three protesters.
