Last year, Muslim militias helped overthrow the country's
Christian president of the Central African Republic and marauded through
Christian areas. Today, the circumstances are reversed, with Christian militias
terrorizing Muslim communities and prompting a mass exodus.
French and African peacekeepers
have mostly failed to stop the violence as the isolated country of 4 million
continues to unravel.
Wazili Yaya, a Muslim, has
witnesses the recent violence.
He has been custodian of the Ali
Babalo Mosque in the capital Bangui since a wealthy merchant built it 19 years
ago. Its painted arches are a testament to a Muslim community that makes up a
minority of the population in this mainly Christian country — yet account for
the vast majority of its traders and merchant class.
An unlocked door opens on a low
white basin. This is where we prepare the corpses, he says. There were 40 this
week. He pulls out his cell phone to show photos.
All the bodies show signs of
violence far beyond what was needed to kill: castrations, decapitations,
machete wounds to the head.
Each time he gets a body, he
takes a photo of it.
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