BANGUI
By Hassan Isilow
Two Muslims were lynched by a mob of angry Christians in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), late Sunday in what Christians described as retaliation for an earlier attack on their neighborhood.
Colonel Karangwa Jean Paul, the commander of the Rwandan contingent serving as part of the African peacekeeping force, MISCA, said they had opened fire after the Christian mobs attacked Muslim civilians.
"It’s true our troops had opened fire to disperse the crowds, but unfortunately one Christian in the mob was killed," he told Anadolu Agency.
Colonel Paul insisted that his troops could not just stand and watch as the Christian mobs killed innocent Muslims.
"We are here to protect both Muslims and Christians," he asserted. "We cannot allow killings to happen in front of us."
On Friday, a Muslim was pulled off a truck heading to Chad and lynched by a Christian mob that later set his body alight.
Muslims have increasingly been targeted since Bangui Mayor Catherine Samba-Panza, a Christian, was elected interim president in January.
She replaced Michel Djotodia, who had come to power in March 2013 when Seleka rebels – said to be mostly Muslim – ousted Francois Bozize, a Christian, who had come to power in a 2003 coup.
On Wednesday, no sooner had Samba-Panza left after a special ceremony to welcome back army deserters than hundreds of army personnel dragged a civilian from the crowd and lynched him on suspicions that he was a former seleka fighter.
Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director for Human Rights Watch who was present at the scene, told AA that the soldiers "set his body on fire, while everybody around was laughing and taking photos with their mobile phones."
-Reprisal-
Ludovic Freddy, a local Bangui resident, described the lynching of the two Muslims as a reprisal.
"On Saturday night Muslims attacked our area of Mbegewi and killed five Christians. Again this morning they struck and killed two ladies," Freddy told AA.
He added that in retaliation the Christians had invaded a nearby Muslim suburb and lynched two Muslim men.
"The body of one of the Muslim men was set on fire and as the crowd attempted to burn the second body Rwanda troops arrived and opened," added Freddy.
The report on the Muslim attack could not be independently verified.
Christians, who constitute the majority of CAR's population, accuse Muslims of supporting the former seleka rebels.
Many people expressed fear that their might be reprisal attacks overnight.
"I am afraid. I don’t know what will happen tonight because when these killing begin, different groups mobilize and fresh violence could start," Omokoboto Ludovic, a kiosk owner in downtown Bangui, told AA.
Members of the Christian anti-balaka militia, which has been accused of perpetrating atrocities against Muslims, were driving in high speed on two blue pickup trucks along David Dacko Avenue in Bangui, sending fear among the few Muslims still living in the area.
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