지난 2013년 이슬람 반군과 기독교 민병대 간에 유혈 충돌이 벌어졌던 중앙아프리카공화국이 다시 극심한 혼란 속에 빠졌다.
28일(현지시간) AP통신은 중아공 수도 방기를 중심으로 지난 며칠간 벌어진 유 혈 충돌로 인해 모두 42명이 사망했다고 보도했다.
이날 오후 방기의 은가라그바 교도소에서는 500명 이상의 죄수가 탈출하기도 했 다.
이번 소요사태는 며칠 전 방기의 이슬람 거주지역인 PK-5 지역의 모스크 근처에 서 이슬람교도인 오토바이 택시 운전사가 살해된 채 발견된 것을 계기로 발생했다.
이에 분노한 이슬람 민병들이 기독교인들을 공격해 수십 명의 사상자가 발생했고 , 국제구호단체 사무실 등에 대한 약탈도 이어졌다.
폭력 사태에 잇따르자 마하마트 카문 총리는 방기에 통행금지 조치를 내리기도 했다.
(Yonhap)
About 500 prisoners escape Central African Republic jail
The worst violence to hit Central African Republic’s capital in a year further deteriorated Monday as more than 500 inmates escaped from a prison and militia fighters looted the offices of international aid organizations, officials said. The death toll from several days of clashes reached 42 including a teenage boy who was decapitated.
The unrest erupted as transitional President Catherine Samba-Panza was in New York at the U.N. General Assembly, sparked by the death of a Muslim man whose body was left near a mosque. Muslim militants then attacked a Christian neighborhood with weekend clashes leaving several dozen people dead.
Amnesty International, which has documented the human rights abuses since the conflict first erupted in early 2013 with the overthrow of the president of a decade, said the latest fighting had shattered the peace in Central African Republic. Sectarian violence had ebbed in recent months with the arrival of a U.N. peacekeeping force and after tens of thousands of Muslims fled the country for their lives.
“The deadly violence in the capital illustrates that CAR remains in a very fragile state and that immediate action must be taken to enhance the capacity of U.N. peacekeepers to detect and respond effectively to such incidents before escalation of attacks on civilians,” said Alioune Tine, Amnesty International regional director for West and Central Africa.
The United States swiftly condemned the unrest, and pledged its support for Samba-Panza’s government, which was supposed to organize elections by year-end. Few see the Oct. 18 dates as possible, and the near-anarchic conditions in Bangui on Monday further cast doubt on their feasibility. Pope Francis is also due to visit in late November as part of his upcoming Africa trip.
“We fully support the efforts of the Central African and international forces to re-establish order and bring these perpetrators to justice,” U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. “The era during which such individuals have been able to carry out their malevolent actions with impunity must come to an end.”
Monday’s jailbreak, though, at Nagaragba unleashed at least 60 high-level convicts including militants from both the Muslim ex-Seleka rebellion and the Christian anti-Balaka fighters, authorities said. The escape was confirmed by head clerk Thierry Ngoalessio at Bangui’s court, as well as witnesses who saw the men fleeing.
Earlier in the day, a group of protesters had gathered in downtown Bangui in an effort to march on the presidential palace. At least six people died when the group was fired upon and protesters blamed peacekeepers for shooting into the crowd to disperse the demonstration, said Christophe Gazam-Betty, a former communications minister.
However, the U.N. mission known as MINUSCA denied that its peacekeepers were to blame for the shooting deaths in this heavily-armed city.
“MINUSCA protected the presidency but did not kill protesters,” said Myriam Dessables, a spokeswoman for the mission, told The Associated Press by telephone.
And a spokesman for the peacekeeping office at U.N. headquarters, Nick Birnback, said, “MINUSCA is patrolling and doing everything it can to stabilize the situation.”
Among the 42 victims in recent days were three teenage boys, one of whom was decapitated, according to the U.N. children’s agency citing preliminary reports from local organizations. (AP)
MOST POPULAR