5th October, 2015
UK-based religious freedom advocacy Christian Solidarity Worldwide has called for the protection of members of an inter-religious peace platform in the Central African Republic after Rev Nicolas Guerekoyame-Gbangou, president of the country’s Evangelical Alliance, was targeted in an attack in the capital Bangui.
Rev Guerekoyame-Gbangou, who has won global recognition for his efforts to end the fighting in the nation, was reportedly targeted by a gang of weapon-wielding youths after a young Muslim motorbike taxi driver was killed. Following the death of the taxi driver, an angry group of Muslim youths entered the Elim Church compound, where Rev Guerekoyame-Gbangou’s house is located, and began asking for him.
Rev Guerekoyame-Gbangou told World Watch Monitor he had left the compound 30 minutes earlier but he said that when told he had gone, the mob demanded his family leave the property and threatened his oldest son with a knife before looting the properties and setting fire to the reverend’s house and other buildings.
“Unfortunately they killed two people before leaving the compound”, Rev Guerekoyame-Gbangou, whose family are now in an undisclosed, safe location, told WWM. “The victims, who had their throats cut, were displaced people who had sought refuge within our compound.”
CSW said the incident has raised questions about the lack of security at the property, particularly given Rev Guerekoyame-Gbangou’s prominent role in peace-building and reconciliation between religious groups in the country.
Mervyn Thomas, chief executive of CSW, called on the peace-keeping forces and transitional government to ensure the protection of “key religious leaders at the forefront of national reconciliation and peace building efforts” including Rev Rev Guerekoyame-Gbangou, Chief Imam Omar Kobine Layama and the Catholic Archbishop of Bangui, Msgr Dieudonné Nzapalainga.
CSW said the violence which broke out on 26th September after the death of the Muslim taxi driver is believed to have claimed up to 200 lives and displaced some 30,000 people. It says the clashes are particularly concerning given upcoming national elections on 18th October.
“CSW also calls for the swift and full disarmament and demobilisation of armed groups in the country and a reconsideration of the electoral timetable, to ensure free and fair elections in an atmosphere conducive to a peaceful transition to democratic rule.”
– DAVID ADAMS
