Resignations prompt hope that ‘time of chaos’ is over

The Bishop of Bossangoa in the Central African Republic (CAR) has expressed the hope that the resignation last week of the interim president and the Prime Minister will ease the tensions in the troubled country.

Since the 10 January resignation of interim president Michel Djotodia and Prime Minister Nicholas Tiengaye at a regional summit in Chad, relative calm has returned to CAR, with markets, banks and offices reopening.

In recent months Bishop Nestor Desire Nongo Aziagbia has given shelter in the diocesan compound to thousands of people displaced by Islamist Seleka rebels. CAR started sliding into chaos in March last year, when Seleka overthrew the Government of President François Bozizé and installed Djotodia as president. But Djotodia failed to control his fighters, with rebels looting and attacking Christians’ homes and churches. Christians reacted by establishing vigilante groups, but interim leader and provisional parliamentary speaker, Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguedent, said that, with Djotodia’s departure, the time of chaos was over.

An estimated 1,000 people have been killed and one million displaced. Thousands have camped in churches and mosques. “Many homes and villages have been burned down, crops have been destroyed, access to humani­tarian aid is difficult and many people are cut off,” said Bishop Nongo Aziagbia.

The Catholic bishops said they want the military and the police to rebuild quickly to secure lives and property; an election to be organised in the shortest time possible; and the creation of an international commission of inquiry to investigate human-rights abuses.