AFRICA/CENTRAL AFRICA - Religious leaders’ appeal: "Do not drag religion into political conflict"

Monday, 10 February 2014

Bangui (Agenzia Fides) - "We do not want religion to be dragged into a conflict that is purely political". This is what the main religious leaders of the Central African Republic (His Exc. Mgr. Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Archbishop of Bangui; Pastor Nicolas Guerékoyame Gbangou, President of the Evangelical Churches, and Imam Oumar Kobine Layama, President of the Central African Islamic Community) said in a press conference held on February 7.
According to Mgr. Nzapalainga "politicians want to impose a religious war to a people who have always lived in harmony", recalling that in Central Africa 80% of the population is Christian, 10% Muslim and 10% animist. "There is no reason to drag religion into a purely political conflict", added Imam Oumar Kobine Layama.
The religious leaders also denounced foreign interference in Central Africa, which have helped to drag the Country into the most serious crisis in its history, and urged, as Pastor Guerékoyame Gbangou says, to allow "the Interim Parliament, the international community to work. Soon a solution will be found".
The situation in Central Africa remains chaotic. On Sunday, February 9th at least 11 people were killed in violent looting in some neighborhoods of the capital, in Bangui. Among the people murdered there is also a Member of Parliament, Jean- Emmanuel Ndjaroua, who had denounced the violence against Muslims. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 10/02/2014)


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