The Central African Republic’s interim president accused armed groups on Friday of seeking to destabilise her government, as two people were shot dead by Burundian peacekeepers in a second day of violent protests in Bangui.
Tensions have soared in the mostly Christian capital after Muslim gunmen attacked a church in its Fatima neighbourhood on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and abducting 27 others, according to U.N. officials.
Thousands marched through the centre of Bangui on Friday to demand the resignation of Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza and the withdrawal of the Burundian contingent of an African Union peacekeeping mission, accused by the city’s Christian majority of favouring Muslims.
In an address to the nation, Samba-Panza promised that those responsible for Wednesday’s attack on Our Lady of Fatima – which lies on the edge of the embattled PK5 Muslim neighbourhood of Bangui – would not go unpunished.
“Inter-community hatred is being exploited shamelessly by the enemies of peace who want to trigger another transition government and who are sparing no effort to undermine the actions of current transitional authorities to reconcile Christians and Muslims,” she said.
One of the most coup-prone African states, the Central African Republic has been beset by conflict since independence in 1960 as armed groups have battled for control over its deposits of gold, diamonds, uranium and, most recently, oil.
Protesters – angry at international peacekeepers’ failure to end more than a year of simmering sectarian violence in the landlocked nation – burnt tyres and erected barricades on the main streets of Bangui for a second day.
A spokesman for the African Union peacekeeping mission (MISCA) said Burundian troops opened fire after being shot at by members of a crowd who attacked their base, next to the U.N. mission in the centre of town.
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