Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bangui (Agenzia Fides) - "The flight of the Muslims from Central Africa is a serious problem. If we do not want Christians to assimilate those who have hurt them, they must be helped by Christians. We need to act quickly if we do not want the co-existence among us to become wishful thinking", says His Exc. Mgr. Dieudonné Nzapalainga, in a statement to the French Catholic daily "La Croix", during his visit to 600 Muslims Peuls camped in Yaloké, a town about a hundred kilometers from the capital of the Central African Republic.
Mgr. Nzapalainga personally drove his SUV, since it is part of a humanitarian aid convoy organized by the Catholic Church in favor of the 600 refugees in Yaloké. He was with a delegation of religious leaders led by the Imam of Bangui, Oumar Kobine Layama.
Sister Julietta, a native of South Korea's religious congregation of Saint-Paul de Chartres, head of the health center de Notre-Dame de Fatima Bangui was in another pick-up. Beside her were two other nurses.
Mgr. Nzapalainga sought to reassure the displaced in the refugee camp: "I am here with the imam that I welcomed in my home for five months. It is not enough to say 'we must live together', but we need to translate these words into concrete actions".
The situation remains precarious in Yaloké, but the Archbishop, on taking the road back to Bangui, promised: "we will be back soon, we will not abandon you". (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 12/06/2014)
