Pope Francis concludes Africa visit with prayers at Bangui mosque and open-air Mass
Pope Francis has concluded his mini-African tour with a highly-significant visit to the mosque in the heart of the Muslim quarter of the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui.
The scene of religious unrest in the past, Pope Francis came bearing a message of mutual respect and tolerance, and appeared determined to stress decades of peaceful religious cohabitation.
Let us remember, Christians and Muslims, members of the traditional religions, lived peacefully for years together, he said.…
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Raw: Mob Smashes Central African Republic Mosque
Tensions flared in the Central African Republic capital of Bangui as a mob of young men tore down the walls of a mosque and set fire to cars outside. (Dec. 10)
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Pope Francis visits mosque besieged by Christian militians in Central African Republic
Pope Francis has taken the biggest security risk of his papacy to visit a mosque under siege from armed Christian militias in Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic, delivering a message of peace and reconciliation in a show of solidarity.
Raw: Pope Ends Visit to Central African Republic
Pope Francis heads back to Italy following a two-day visit to Central African Republic. The Pontiff held a mass in Bangui after visiting an area mosque. (Nov. 30)
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Thousands of Muslims flee Bangui on truck convoy towards Chad
Thousands of Muslims fled for their lives from the capital of Central African Republic on Friday, climbing aboard trucks guarded by heavily armed Chadian forces.
They said they had to leave because no one was protecting them in Bangui.
The convoy of some 500 cars, trucks and motorcycles made its way toward Chad, a predominantly Muslim neighbouring country.
Crowds of Christians cheered as the convoy passed out of town.
Some trucks broke down even before they could leave Bangui and had to be abandoned.
The passengers jumped aboard other trucks, facing constant jeering, threats and stone throwing from the watching crowd.
The exodus comes after two months of sectarian violence in the capital that has targeted Muslims accused of collaborating with the now-sidelined rebel government.
One man who fell off a departing truck was slaughtered by an angry mob and his body mutilated, highlighting the risks for those who wanted stay behind, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene.
It will be a harrowing journey north, around 500 kilometres (310 miles) over dirt tracks and poorly maintained motorways to the border with Chad.
Tit-for-tat violence killed more than one-thousand people in Bangui alone in a matter of days in December.
An untold number have died in the weeks that followed, with most of the attacks in Bangui targeting Muslims.
The country's Muslim minority has been accused of supporting a Muslim rebel government that carried out scores of atrocities in the predominantly Christian country before the government collapsed.
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Central African Republic - Thousands gathered at the Bangui airport in the Central African Republic
Thousands seek sanctuary at airport protected by French forces
921300
AP TELEVISION
Bangui - 6 Dec 2013
1. Wide of French troops in armoured cars and jeeps
2. internally displaced people (IDPs) gathered at Bangui airport
3. Mid of three French soldiers with guns
4. IDPs cheering at the sight of the French helicopters
President Djotodia says troops loyal to him will return to barracks
921510
AP TELEVISION
Bangui - 8 Dec 2013
5. SOUNDBITE (French) Michel Djotodia, President of the Central African Republic:
Tomorrow morning everyone will be in their barracks, leaving African regional peacekeepers, police and French soldiers to patrol Bangui.
6. Mid of Djotodia at news conference
Mosque burnt and destroyed by angry mob as Muslims are accused of supporting the ex-rebel government
921753
AP TELEVISION
Bangui - 10 Dec 2013
7. Men shouting, some with sticks, next to two burnt vehicles in the compound of a burnt and destroyed mosque
8. Mid of burning car, men in foreground
African peacekeepers fire in air to disperse angry mob trying to hunt down and kill Muslims
922158
AP TELEVISION
Bangui - 12 Dec 2013
9. Wide of armed African peacekeepers - from the Multinational Force of Central Africa (FOMAC) - standing in street near compound of the Saint-Jacques Church, where Muslim are seeking refuge, AUDIO: sirens, gunfire and shouting
10. Mid of crowd outside compound, pan to FOMAC peacekeepers
Christian militiamen fighting to oust Muslim president hide in the hills near capital
922673
AP TELEVISION
Near Bangui - 15 Dec 2013
11. Various of Christian militiamen with weapons, wearing lucky charms
12. Close of militiaman with axe
STORYLINE:
On December 6th 2013 thousands of people gathered at the airport at the Central African Republic's capital of Bangui, seeking refuge from the Muslim rebel group-turned de facto government known as Seleka.
The French military, which controls Bangui airport, said about 2-thousand Central Africans took refuge there on Thursday, most if not all of them Christian, and the crowd was continuing to grow on on December 6th.
They fled their homes following a surge of bloodshed on Thursday that left more than 100 people dead in the currently lawless capital.
We fled our area because of the intimidation of the Muslims, the Seleka, said one man. They came to our area saying there are anti-Seleka there, and they started shooting people. We came to stay here at the airport.
Streets in the city were empty on December 6th except for military vehicles and the trucks favoured by the rebel forces who now claim control of the government.
As French soldiers and equipment - including a fighter jet, helicopters, parachutists and armoured vehicles - continued to arrive into one of the world's poorest countries, locals stood behind coils of barbed wire, banging on plastic buckets, waving rags in the air and singing with joy.
The Seleka rebels have run rampant in Central African Republic after toppling the president in March, fighting against Christian militias who back the ousted leader, Francois Bozize.
The capital remains awash in weapons and recent attempts at disarmament have yielded little success.
December 5th's bloodshed came as Christian militias, formed by supporters of the ousted president, raided Muslim neighbourhoods.
It came hours before a UN Security Council vote to authorise the French deployment.
Despite the cheers that went up when a jet engine roared overhead, France insisted it was going only reluctantly into Central African Republic and with the limited aim of doubling its presence in the country to 1,200 troops.
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In addition, thousands of locals have fled to the Bangui airport to seek the protection of French soldiers.
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Central African Republic President: We have learned a lot from China
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday met Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Touadera told President Xi that he had read The Governance of China and watched the documentary Carrying Reform through to the End. He added, I highly appreciate China's development model. We really have learned a lot from China.
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Protests in Bangui- Central African Republic
Report by David Manyua, United Nations Television.
Automatic weapon fire was heard today in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic as hundreds of people marching on the streets with machetes in hands.
At least two demonstrators were killed and several others wounded.
Protesters are demanding the resignation of the Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza.
They are saying that the government is incapable to deal with the crisis and want the disarmament of the troublesome areas of the capital.
The AU Peacekeepers fired warning shots and tear gas to dispersed the protesters
Several wounded people were treated by French military medics and were transported to hospital with UN vehicles.
Thousands of people continue to march through the city while businesses remained closed.
STORY: CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC / VIOLENCE
TRT: 1.54
SOURCE: MINUSCA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH /NATS
DATELINE: 30 MAY 2014, BANGUI, CAR
SHOTLIST:
1. Wide shot, people running on the street
2. Various shots, youngsters with machetes and sticks
3. Med shot, group of men rolling a tree trunk on the street
4. Med shot, man laying on the street
5. Wide shot, people on street with barbwire in foreground
6. Med shot, people on the street
7. Med shot, UN peacekeepers on the truck
8. Wide shot, UN armored vehicle on the street
9. SOUNDBITE (French), male protester
Our government is incapable to react to problem we have here in our country. We want to have disarmament of the neighborhood kilometer 5. That's all we want.
10. Wide shot, men running
11. Various shots, people walking
12. Wide shot, soldiers
13. Various shots, young man covered in blood held by two women
14. Various shots peacekeepers assisting wounded young men
Central African Republic Militias Call For President, PM To Step Down
Christian militias in Central African Republic have called for the president and prime minister to resign and have ordered their ministers to pull out of the government, striking a blow to efforts aimed at quelling violence in the country.
The former French colony has been engulfed in turmoil since the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition seized power in the majority Christian country in March 2013. The rebels later withdrew from the capital Bangui, but their abuses prompted a backlash by Christian militias, known as 'anti-balaka'.
Pope leaves Central African Republic
(30 Nov 2015) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY
AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Bangui - 30 November 2015
1. Various of children singing, dancing and waving coloured balloons ahead of Pope Francis' departure
2. Various of Pope Francis at the airport, walking alongside the Interim President of Central African Republic, Catherine Samba-Panza, with military band playing
3. Francis looks on as Samba-Panza greets dignitaries
4. Various of Francis walking up stairs to plane and waving
5. Vatican flag and Central African Republic flag on front of plane
6. Soldiers rolling up red carpet on runway
7. Various of plane taking off and departing
STORYLINE:
Pope Francis was on his way back to Italy on Monday, following a two-day visit to Central African Republic.
After a final Mass at the sports stadium in Bangui, the Pope's motorcade headed to the airport, where his plane took off.
Despite security concerns raised about the pontiff's visit to the highly volatile country, Francis was able to visit the Muslim enclave of PK5 and hold Mass at the cathedral and sports stadium without incident.
Bangui's Muslims have been unable to leave the PK5 neighbourhood for months because armed Christian militia fighters have surrounded its perimeter.
The Pope also visited Kenya and Uganda as part of his five-day trip to Africa.
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Mosque torched in CAR as weapons are found
At freaking last some people are fighting back against islamic aggression.
Une mosquée n'est pas seulement un endroit où les mahométans lèvent le cul en l'air plusieurs fois par jour. C'est aussi une caserne où l'imam prêche le jihad, la guerre contre les infidèles et où des armes peuvent être planquées pour faire la guerre. A priori, c'est le cas d'une mosquée de Bangui la capital Centrafricaine où des armes et des machettes ont été trouvées.
Ecoutez bien cette vidéo d'I-Télé, canal de propagande socialiste soutenant le régime actuel au pouvoir en France. I-Télé veut faire croire que les pauvres musulmans de Centrafrique sont martyrisés par les chrétiens. C'est sans doute pourquoi Hollande a envoyé l'armée là-bas puisque la France est aujourd'hui de dimension arabo-orientale selon le dernier rapport des socialistes (voir ici : gouvernement.fr). Hollande et sa clique socialiste montrent ainsi à leur clientèle islamique en France qu'ils défendent les musulmans dans le monde.
Pope at Bangui's Central Mosque: “Together we say no to hate”
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December 1, 2015. Pope at Bangui's Central Mosque: “Together we say no to hate”
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Peacekeepers patrol capital, day after gunbattles between rival militias
French troops and African peacekeepers were out in large numbers on Saturday on the streets of the capital of the Central African Republic one day after gunbattles between rival militias raged in the city, prompting foreign forces to intervene.
Thousands of French and African peacekeepers have been trying to calm a political crisis that has ignited unprecedented tit-for-tat killings by armed Christian and Muslim movements.
Armed members of a Christian militia were spotted moving into the predominantly Muslim neighbourhood of Miskine late on Friday to attacks positions held there by Muslim fighters, known as Seleka.
The mostly Muslim rebels who overthrew the government in March 2013 became deeply despised by the Christian majority because of the killings and other atrocities they committed.
For nearly 10 months the Seleka rebels targeted and tortured civilians, in some cases tying them together and throwing them off bridges to drown.
In response, Christian fighters have lynched scores of Muslims in the streets of Bangui, sometimes stoning victims to death and then mutilating their bodies.
Muslim civilians, who have fled by the tens of thousands, insist they are not to blame for the rebellion.
Some residents sought protection at a house guarded by Rwandan peacekeepers on the outskirts of Miskine.
If there is security and if the Rwandans (peacekeepers) will look after us, then we'll stay until things finish, but if there is no security we'll be obliged to leave, one Muslim man seeking refuge there said.
In the PK13 district of Bangui, many took advantage of abandoned, Muslim-owned homes by looting materials.
Although having intervened late on Wednesday to rescue about 30 Muslims trapped inside their homes by marauding gangs in the same district, on Saturday French troops patrolled the area without interfering.
More than 1,000 people died during several days of sectarian fighting sparked by an attempted coup by Christian fighters in December, and United Nations officials have warned the lingering anarchy could escalate into genocide.
Some 4,600 African peacekeepers are in Central African Republic, but 3,200 of them remain inside the capital.
France also has sent 1,600 troops though few have reached the hot spots farther north.
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10 Mosques in Central African Republic Reopen as Muslims Trickle Home, Violence Subsides
Ten mosques have reopened in Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, as Muslims begin to trickle back home after months of sectarian violence.
The country exploded into violence in December 2013 that left at least 5,000 people dead and forced tens of thousands, mostly Muslims, to flee.
The vast majority of the country's mosques — 417 out of 436, according to a top American diplomat — were destroyed in the violence between Christians and Muslims. But with U.N. and French troops working to stabilize the country, the violence is subsiding.
Aliou Ousseini, one of the country's most influential imams, says 10 mosques that survived the fighting have reopened in recent weeks. A spokesman for Muslims in the capital says about 3,000 Muslims who fled the violence have come home.
CAR - Bangui
Driving around Bangui is somewhat surreal. On one hand - it’s a normal African city with lively markets in the streets, people walking or driving bikes, a football stadium, a university, several government buildings, corky monuments, and a pretty church. And then there is another side - heavily fortified UN barracks and bases with military contingents from half a dozen countries (Philippines, Nigeria, Georgia, Pakistan, etc) in blue helmets and bulletproof vests and driving armored vehicles with 50 caliber machine guns pointing everywhere, perhaps highest concentration of white SUVs with UN insignia I have ever seen, French military and gendarmerie in full fatigues and overloaded with weaponry, and various local police and warlord groups with their AK-47s blazing and dressed in shorts and t-shirts and flipflops overloading dinky pickup trucks. Nuts! Obviously, I stayed away from photographing the military side but still managed to sneak a few UN troop pictures - they seemed the most bored and disinterested about their surroundings.
Pope Francies Arrives at Bangui Cathedral
Pope Francis arrives at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in the Central African Republic capital of Bangui, where he opened the Holy Doors for the Year of Mercy. Christopher Lamb, DeSales Media's special correspondent for Pope Francis's trip to Africa, briefly recorded the Holy Father's arrival at the cathedral.
Christian militiamen fighting to oust Muslim president hide in the hills near capital
Armed with clubs, machetes and hunting rifles, the Christian militiamen fighting to oust Central African Republic's Muslim president from power are posing the greatest threat to the ex-rebels now ruling the country.
The militia are known as the anti-balaka, which means anti-machete in the local Sango language.
They sport long rope necklaces with leather pieces and charms known as gri-gri on top of their T-shirts, which they say will save them from the bullets and machetes of their enemies.
However, the ragtag bunch of young militiamen make it clear that they are not soldiers.
We are farmers. We don't generally get involved in politics. We hunt and we farm, that's how we live, said Douze Puissance, one of the anti-balaka's leaders.
The militia movement's hierarchy is unclear and there are divisions in its leadership, but the collaboration is evidence that the opposition movement to President Michel Djotodia and his fighters is growing.
French forces are supposed to be disarming Muslim and Christian fighters, though the Christian militia hideouts in the bush have made them harder to find.
We are not here to be in opposition with France, but to show the world that we exist, added Puissance. If France came here and asked us to lay down our weapons, we would do it.
For months the militiamen have lived in the remote bush, surviving on weeds and handouts from local villages, venturing out of the forest only to buy cigarettes and phone credit.
The anti-balaka's power base is in and around Bossangoa, the hometown of ousted president Francois Bozize.
As the movement has grown in strength and numbers, it set its sight on Bangui, the seat of government in the south of the country.
Central African Republic's Muslims and Christians had lived together in relative harmony until the northern rebels backed by mercenary fighters from neighbouring Sudan and Chad overtook the capital in March.
Christians felt the rebels - particularly the foreign fighters - had targeted them in indiscriminate attacks, fuelling the resentment that has given rise to an armed movement.
In a show of force, Christian militiamen stormed the capital on December 5, after hiding in a cemetery on the edge of town to launch their assault.
Ultimately, Djotodia's forces pushed them back into the bush, and in the violent aftermath more than six hundred people were killed in just over a week as Christians and Muslims battled each other on the streets.
More than a quarter of the capital's population has fled their homes in fear.
The anti-balaka themselves are accused of killing civilians and burning down hundreds of homes in predominantly Muslim communities.
Just days before the anti-balaka forces attacked the capital, a vicious morning attack on a village near Boali left nearly a dozen Muslim women and children slaughtered.
Puissance insisted their fighters were not involved in that attack, saying his militiamen only kill armed Muslims.
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AU troops from Chad 'fire on crowd' in Central African Republic
African Union peacekeeping troops from Chad have clashed with demonstrators in the Central African Republic, near the airport in the capital Bangui.
According to protesters, one person was killed but that has not been confirmed.
The medical charity Medecins sans Frontières said about 40 people were treated for injuries, most of whom had been slightly hurt in a stampede as people panicked.
The clashes are complicating international efforts to calm inter-religious violence in large landlocked state, where France has deployed 1,600 troops to protect civilians.
Despite French pleas for the crowd to disperse, many among the capital's majority Christian population accuse the troops from neighbouring Chad of siding with Muslim rebels.
One handwritten banner read yes to France, no to the Chadian force.
The Muslims from Seleka took power in a coup in March, installing their own interim head of state. Chadian peacekeepers were accused of standing aside.
In the latest clash witnesses said they reacted to stones being thrown by firing into the air -- and the crowd.
In other developments, the European Union has banned the export of arms to the Central African Republic and mercenaries from being sent to the country.
France says the 28-nation EU will decide next month on a joint operation to help a French military intervention to stabilise the country.
Sectarian bloodletting returns to the Central African Republic
An upsurge in violence in the Central African Republic has seen hundreds flee the capital Bangui.
The increase in bloodletting has prompted Pope Francis to announce his visit to the country later this month is now in doubt.
The CAR has been in turmoil since the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels staged a coup: in 2013.
==If #CARcrisis vote is held before militias r disarmed, fighting might resume: @ForeignPolic…
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RA International CAR Construction
At RA International, each day is different and comes with its own set of excitement and challenges. Our multicultural construction team in Bangui, Central African Republic, are like one big family that works together to get the job done. Gender inclusivity is also key and we have a great number of women in our workforce.