USCCB Fact Sheet
2017
Central African Republic - Christian and Muslim Religious Leaders Work for Peace
Although the 2016 election of Faustin-Archange
Touadera as president marked a peaceful transition from
several years of conflict in the Central African Republic
(CAR), animosity between the minority Muslim and the
predominately Christian population still threatens the
country’s precarious reconciliation process.
Sectarian violence erupted after 2013, when a coalition
of rebel groups, called the Seleka, from the
predominantly Muslim North led an armed coup that
deposed then-president Francois Bozize. Under
international pressure and condemnation for crimes
against humanity, the rebels relinquished government
control, but splintered into several armed groups in
2014. The conflict took on religious undertones as nonMuslim rural communities formed traditional selfdefense militias, called anti-balaka, to fight the Seleka
armed groups, and made religion the identifying factor
of the enemy.
The violence mushroomed, spurring a humanitarian
crisis. Thousands were killed as the anti-balaka and rebel
groups ran rampant throughout a country without a
functioning government. Thousands more were displaced as anti-balaka drove out some 80 percent of the
country’s Muslim population. Mosques were burned and
destroyed; Muslims were abused, pressured to convert,
or hid their faith. Viewed as foreign and untrustworthy,
Muslims had faced harassment and discrimination prior
to the violence; now they were its primary target. Using
religion as an identifier led to what the United Nations
Commission called a “pattern of ethnic cleansing” in the
northern CAR.
Religious leaders grieved as the political conflict became
a religious war. They remained convinced of the need for
reconciliation. In the midst of this civil war, Evangelical
Pastor Nicolas Guerekoyame, Catholic Archbishop
Dieudonné Nzapalainga and Imam Omar Kobine Layama
led an interreligious movement to counter rising hatred
with reconciliation, and violence with peace. They
championed the preservation of their country’s diverse
social fabric.
The religious leaders promoted interreligious dialogue
through the activities of their Religious Leaders Platform,
which successfully stirred the regional and international
community into action. The U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops and Catholic Relief Services labored alongside
the religious leaders in the CAR and together with them
helped launch the Central African Interfaith
Peacebuilding Partnership. The Partnership supports
trauma healing programs, peacebuilding practices, and
humanitarian aid to the thousands of wounded and
displaced victims.
In a gesture of unprecedented solidarity, Pope Francis
visited the CAR in November 2015. He visited a Muslim
village under siege by armed Christian militias to illustrate the interreligious spirit of peace for which the CAR
is striving. Within the village’s mosque, Pope Francis professed hope the CAR would re-establish “a welcoming
home for all its children, regardless of their ethnic origin,
political affiliation or religious confession.” Christians
and Muslims are brothers and sisters, he asserted. The
fragile process of rebuilding within the CAR will be unsuccessful as long as religious traditions are not respected and wounds are not reconciled, but religious leaders
are courageously leading the hard work of building reconciliation and peace.
Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development
Office of International Justice and Peace
www.fortnightforfreedom.org