Barnabas Aid - International Headquarters River Street, Pewsey, Wilthire. Phone: +44 1672 565030 Latitude: 51 deg 23 min 18 sec N Longitude: 1 deg 45 min 48 sec W .
Extremist Muslim rebels take over Centra...

Email:

Extremist Muslim rebels take over Central African Republic; Christian property targeted

To

Email address:
Separate multiple addresses with a comma (,). Maximum of 10

From

Your name:
Your email address:
Security test:
Please enter the numbers that appear here in the box below.
refresh captcha
CAPTCHA Image
Security code:

Details provided here will never be used in any other context

Extremist Muslim rebels take over Central African Republic; Christian property targeted

Country/Region: Africa, Central African Republic

Church buildings have been attacked and the homes of Christians looted in the aftermath of a bloody coup by a band of Muslim rebels in the Central African Republic (CAR).

President François Bozizé was ousted by the rebel coup
President François Bozizé
was ousted by the rebel coup
CC BY-SA 2.0 / hdptcar

The Seleka rebels seized control of the country on 24 March following a three-month uprising. Their leader, Michel Djotodia, has assumed the presidency from the ousted François Bozizé, becoming the predominantly Christian nation’s first Muslim president.

Days of chaos and looting followed the takeover, with Christian property being targeted by the rebels, while that belonging to Muslims was spared.

A senior church leader said that the rebels destroyed a number of church buildings when they entered the south-eastern town of Bangassou. The house of a seminary rector was robbed and destroyed, and a mechanic severely beaten when he would not reveal where church-owned vehicles were kept. A Baptist church in Bambari was also destroyed.

A Christian in the capital Bangui said:

We are no longer at home. They pillage our goods which are then sold by the Muslims who export them.

Islamist takeover?

The rebellion spread from the north, where CAR’s Muslim minority is concentrated, and has had a militant Islamic character. The Seleka rebels are said to follow Wahhabism, an extreme and puritanical version of Islam that is practised in Saudi Arabia.

When Djotodia arrived at the Bangui mosque for Friday prayers following the takeover, Muslims chanted “Allahu Akbar” (“god is great”), the oft-used cry of militant Islamists.

One woman said, “They say, ‘It’s our turn now. We will make you pay’.”

Djotodia has insisted that CAR is a secular state and that he “must serve my country, all Central Africans” but admitted that “some people with bad intentions want to lead the country into inter-religious conflict”. 

Christians, who comprise around 75% per cent of the population, and Muslims, who account for around 15%, have previously lived peaceably together.

CAR has had a succession of unstable, military governments since it gained independence in 1960. Ousted president Bozizé himself came to power in a coup ten years ago.

It is currently in a lawless state. On 25 March, Djotodia suspended the constitution, announced the dissolution of the National Assembly and said that he intends to rule by decree.

The violent takeover has been condemned by the African Union, the UN Security Council and the US.

Help us: Share this article

Email:

Extremist Muslim rebels take over Central African Republic; Christian property targeted

To

Email address:
Separate multiple addresses with a comma (,). Maximum of 10

From

Your name:
Your email address:
Security test:
Please enter the numbers that appear here in the box below.
refresh captcha
CAPTCHA Image
Security code:

Details provided here will never be used in any other context

christian, persecution, charity, church, persecuted, sookhdeo, Islam

Other articles

Follow Barnabas

or

receive news & appeal emails as they are published

From Twitter

From Twitter_icon

    Daily prayer

    Daily prayer_icon
    • In Saudi Arabia, it is illegal to practise a non-Islamic religion in public but supposedly permissible to do in private. Nevertheless, Christians are sometimes arrested for meeting to worship in a private home. Pray that the Lord will protect all Christian believers in Saudi Arabia, including the many expatriate workers from Asia and Africa, and especially the much smaller number of Saudi converts from Islam, whose lives are in real danger if their faith is discovered. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed 7 hours ago

    • The UN estimates that there have been roughly 1,500 Iraqi women and children from the Christian and Yazidi communities abducted by ISIS and then forced into sexual slavery. Pray for them and also for the hundreds of Christian, Yazidi and Turkmen women held in Badush Prison in Mosul, Iraq by ISIS militants. The women are reported to be raped daily unless they agree to convert to ISIS’s brand of Sunni Islam. Ask our Heavenly Father to have mercy on each one of these women and children and to deliver them from evil. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Mon, Dec 2014 00:00

    • Around 200,000 Iraqi Christians and other minorities have been displaced from their homes due to attacks by Islamic State militants. Pray for all these displaced people who have no permanent home this winter, and who have mostly lost everything they possessed. Pray that God will protect them from illness and cold. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Sun, Dec 2014 00:00

    • Iranian Pastor Behnam continues to serve a six-year prison sentence. He is in solitary confinement and suffers serious health problems. Pray for his congregation left leaderless and desolate. Pray that God will be his refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. (Psalm 46:1) Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Sat, Dec 2014 00:00

    • Remembering that the infant Lord Jesus Himself fled from threats of violence with His parents, pray for the Pakistanis from various persecuted minorities who had sought asylum in Sri Lanka but are now being deported back to Christmas concert at a school in Bethlehem that Barnabas Aid supports Pakistan. This is happening despite protests by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Those being deported include Christians, Ahmadiyyas and Shia Muslims, all of whom are vulnerable to persecution in Pakistan. For example, any Christian who has been accused under the “blasphemy law” is at extreme risk of being murdered even if they have been cleared of the charges. Pray for their protection. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Fri, Dec 2014 00:00

    © Barnabas Aid 1997 - 2014 All rights reserved.
    Barnabas Aid is a registered trade mark