Unrelenting religious violence across the Central African Republic (CAR) is forcing Muslims out of the country in droves. Aid agencies are now warning that an exodus of Muslim traders and cattle-herders could lead to catastrophic famine and economic collapse. “Traders have mostly left as there is little security at the markets, the cattle-herders have fled to the bush so there is very little meat, making it extremely expensive for us to buy. With few means of making money, we are in trouble,” said Elodie Nguerele, a Christian who teaches in Bangui, the capital.
Less than a quarter of the wholesalers who import food from neighbouring countries remain in Bangui, according to aid agencies. Attacks on Muslims may encourage the rest to flee. Residents in Bangui say that supplies of sugar and flour are critically short. The prices for staples are soaring. According to the UN, 1.3m of the country’s 4.6m people need food aid urgently.
The CAR has been in chaos since Muslim rebels seized power a year ago and then lost it around December as Christian militias fought back. French troops struggled to hold the ring, and the governments of neighbouring countries called for the coup leader, Michel Djotodia, to go—which he did. Since then, revenge attacks on the Muslim minority community, including summary executions, torture and looting, have become more common. Muslim residents have fled many north-western towns, such as Bossangoa and Bouca, where there had been a sizeable and well-established Muslim presence.
The advent last month of a new president, Catherine Samba-Panza, selected by an assembly, raised hopes of peace. But sectarian attacks have persisted. Human Rights Watch, a New York-based pressure group, reported earlier this month that a man suspected of being a Muslim rebel fighter had been lynched by uniformed military officers. Residents in the capital report that armed violence has slid into general lawlessness. Robberies are on the rise.
“The situation for Muslims remains very bad and most are now fleeing to Chad and Cameroon,” says Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, adding that entire Muslim districts in the capital have been abandoned. Tens of thousands of Muslims are said to have fled. The rest may follow soon, Mr Bouckaert says. Armed Muslim commanders and fighters are regrouping in north-eastern towns, where they are continuing to carry out brutal attacks against civilians.
Despite the presence of regional troops and French forces, who badly need and are expecting reinforcements, the bloodshed is still spreading. A former French commander said that thousands more international and French troops would be needed, otherwise chaos would prevail, especially beyond the capital and the country’s main arterial roads to Cameroon and Chad.
Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court at The Hague, has opened a preliminary investigation into crimes against humanity in the CAR. Mrs Bensouda said the incidents she was looking into included “hundreds of killings, acts of rape and sexual slavery, destruction of property, pillaging, torture, forced displacement and recruitment and use of children in hostilities”. In many incidents, she noted, “victims appeared to have been deliberately targeted on religious grounds.”