Humanitarian organizations have picked up the corpses of 461 Christians in the Central African Republic since the arrival of French troops. The number of Muslims killed is still unknown, their bodies having been gathered in a mosque to which humanitarian organizations did not seek access.

The Central African Republic has been in a state of civil war since the 2003 political coup of François Bozizé against the elected president Ange-Félix Patassé, supported by Libya.

Bozizé was overthrown by the Coalition (Séléka) in March 2013, in favour of Michel Djotodia. On assuming his duties as president, the latter dissolved the Coalition, but failed to rein in his ex-soldiers when they indulged in acts of violence. He was the first Muslim president in a country of where the population is fourth fifths Christian.

The arrival of French troops put an end to the abuses perpetrated by the former ’’(anti-Bozizé) Coalition’’ (Séléka) against Christians, but it encouraged these same Christians to take revenge against Muslims for what they had suffered. As it turns out, it would seem that France is incapable of interceding between the two camps. She is perceived as having taken sides, all the more since she had clearly supported Francois Bozizé’s coup d’état.

Translation
Alizée Ville