Unidentified militants kill Central African Republic mayor
This is the third major act of violence to take place in the same city within a month
BANGUI
By Sylvestre Krock
Dianga Fidele, mayor of the city of Ngaboko in the southern Central African Republic, was assassinated on Monday by militants, eyewitnesses have said.
It is the third major act of violence to occur in the city within one month. Last week, 11 people were killed in an attack by Christian anti-balaka militiamen on a camp of Fulani, a predominantly Muslim tribe of shepherds.
A subsequent revenge attack by the latter left 13 more people dead shortly afterward.
On Monday, eyewitnesses said Fidele had been killed by three militants believed to belong to the predominantly Muslim seleka militia.
Eyewitnesses said the assassins had followed the mayor until he reached a camp for displaced people, where they gunned him down.
"This morning, the mayor had gone to the camp of the displaced to check the list of those who benefited from aid offered by the World Food Program," a Ngaboko resident told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.
"I saw him enter, ask about the list, and then head toward the exit, where security agents are deployed," the resident added.
He then described seeing two Seleka militiamen on a motorcycle, one of whom was brandishing a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
According to the witness, a third man then joined the first two and began shooting the mayor.
"Even with this, it was not immediately known why the mayor was targeted," the local resident said.
Fidele's assassination comes only days after internal rifts began to appear within the seleka hierarchy.
For more than one year, the Central African Republic has been plagued by tit-for-tat sectarian violence between seleka fighters and Christian militiamen.
Anti-Muslim violence surged after president Michel Djotodia stepped down in January and was replaced by Catherine Samba-Panza, a Christian who had formerly served as mayor of capital Bangui.
Christians, who account for the majority of the country's population, accuse Muslims of supporting Seleka militants blamed for attacking Christian homes, looting property and carrying out summary executions.
