THERE is little medical care in the Muslim quarter of Boda, a mining town 200km (125 miles) south-west of Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic (CAR). Fadi Madou was helpless when her six-day-old baby got sick and died. But had she ventured across a wooden bridge into Boda's Christian district to look for a doctor, she, being a Muslim, would probably have ended up dead, too.
In the past year, the CAR has descended into horrendous ethnic and sectarian violence. First, a hotchpotch of mainly Muslim rebel groups from the north, known as the Seleka (Alliance), swept down to Bangui and ousted President François Bozizé. After holding power after a fashion for ten months, it too was forced out amid allegations of rampant human-rights abuses. Since then, mayhem has prevailed, though international peacekeepers under the aegis of the African Union (AU), France and the European Union have struggled to hold the ring.
After the fall of the Seleka government in January, Christian militias known as the anti-Balaka have behaved just as badly, retaliating brutally against Muslims and blaming all of them for the Seleka's excesses. Thousands of Muslims...Continue reading
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