A three-month-old rebel uprising in the Central African Republic swept into the country's capital Sunday, ousting the president and leaving ransacked Christian homes and churches in its wake.
A source close to the Episcopal Conference of the Central African Republic told World Watch Monitor that many Christians' properties have been looted. Cars, electronics and other goods were stolen.
The main Cathedral of Bangui, the premises of Caritas Charity, and the houses of a number of religious communities were targeted by armed men, said the source, who is a Catholic priest and asked not to be publicly identified, for security reasons.
Several rebel groups unhappy with the government of President Francois Bozizé, joined forces in December under the banner Séléka and within weeks had taken control of much of the country's north, northeast and the central regions.
Landlocked and largely impoverished, the French-speaking Central African Republic has a long history of unstable, military governments since it gained independence in 1960. Bozizé, who rose to power in a coup 10 years ago, fled Sunday to neighbouring Cameroon.
The rebellion swept out of the north, where the country's Muslim minority is concentrated, giving it a militant Islamic character, experts said.
"Given the rebellion's origins in the north, we can assume there are many Muslims in their ranks" said Roland Marchal, a sub-Saharan researcher at France's National Centre for Scientific Research, in published news accounts. Read more
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