Pope’s visit to the Central African Republic a “sign against forgetting”

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), Pope Francis’ planned visit to the Central African Republic in late November is to be seen as “an important sign against forgetting regarding one of the worst crises in Africa”. At the same time, the human rights organization also warns about the unpredictable risks for the pontiff himself, as well as for the hundreds of thousands of Christians from other parts of the country and the neighboring countries, who will want to celebrate the Mass with him. “Given the growing security concerns, it might be advisable to postpone the visit. The militias are probably planning new acts of violence to destabilize the country and to try and obstruct the presidential elections, which are scheduled for December 27, 2015,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s Africa-consultant, in Göttingen on Thursday. The pope’s most difficult foreign missions so far is to be seen as an attempt to promote understanding and reconciliation in Central Africa, despite the ongoing conflicts between Christians and Muslims.

“The security forces in the capital Bangui are not able to guard a major event such as a papal visit effectively – as can be seen from the several dozen attacks of Christian or Muslim militias since the end of September 2015, in which 75 people lost their lives,” said Delius. Thus, the 12,000 UN peacekeepers, the French military and police forces could not prevent that, during the past six weeks, at least twelve civilians got killed for political reasons every week. There will surely be measures to keep the Pope safe, but it is impossible to protect all the believers who will want to see him. The French military has already warned about the risks of a papal visit. The international attention for the visit would be an ideal setting for terrorists to put the incumbent transitional government in a bad light and to drive the country into chaos.

The violence is caused by both Christian and Muslim militias who use religious issues as an excuse to attack civilians of the respective other faith. However, the criminal gangs under the leadership of the Anti-Balaka chief Maxime Mokom and the former Seleka-leader Noureddine Adam are pursuing one common goal: They want the presidential elections to be postponed to enable the former President Francois Bozizé (who was ousted in March 2013) to return from exile. The civilian population despises the militias for its terrorism and for instrumentalizing religious belief.

Header Photo: hdptcar via Flickr