Tag: Bambari

Central African Republic in mourning again as another priest killed

July 4, 2018 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bambari, Bangui, Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Seleka, UN, UPC

The Catholic Church in the Central African Republic is again in shock after the killing of the vicar general of Bambari, in the centre of the country, on Friday night. Father Firmin Gbagoua, 52, was fatally wounded, when unidentified gunmen stormed the presbytery of St. Joseph’s Cathedral of Bambari at . . . Read More

CAR’s clerics warn against attempts to divide Christians and Muslims

June 1, 2018 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Antonio Guterres, Bambari, Bangui, Central African Republic, Chad, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, IDPs, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, PK5, Seleka, Sudan, UN, UPC

The three top faith leaders of the Central African Republic (CAR), who have won international recognition for their efforts to end conflict in the country, have blamed foreign mercenaries for a recent upsurge in violence. One month ago today, the relative calm enjoyed by the capital, Bangui, was shattered when . . . Read More

Evangelical head sets out ambitious vision for rebuilding CAR

April 12, 2018 Central African Republic Bambari, Bangui, Catholics, Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, PK5, Protestants, Seleka, UN, Women, Youth

Churches in the Central African Republic have pledged to unite in prayer in response to the worsening violence dividing the country. The leader of the country’s evangelical church network says the effort has the potential to bring peace to the troubled nation. “Recent history of some countries in Africa, among . . . Read More

Five years on, Central African Republic crisis deepens

April 4, 2018 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bambari, Catherine Samba-Panza, Central African Republic, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Oumar Kobine Layama, Seleka, UN, UPC

A UN official has called for a new approach to end the still-deepening crisis in the Central African Republic. The situation in CAR has been deteriorating for five years now, and in the next six months may grow even worse, according to the head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination . . . Read More

Dozens killed in CAR, including priest who planned to move

March 28, 2018 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Antonio Guterres, Bambari, Bangassou, Bangui, Catholics, Central African Republic, Gambo, Seleka, UN, UPC

Dozens, including a Catholic priest, were killed last week as fighting erupted between armed groups in several villages in southern Central African Republic. Father Joseph Désiré Angbabata, 49, the parish priest of Séko village, near Bambari, lost his life when armed men stormed his village parish of Saint Charles LWANGA . . . Read More

UN chief visits CAR, where lack of aid is leading to starving children

October 24, 2017 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bambari, Bangassou, Central African Republic, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Seleka

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is in the Central African Republic (CAR) to draw attention to the world’s “forgotten crisis” and its heavy toll on aid workers and UN peacekeepers. The visit is happening a week after the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the country told media that the deteriorating security situation . . . Read More

CAR: Special Criminal Court prosecutor appointed as killing continues

February 21, 2017 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bambari, Catherine Samba-Panza, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, PK5, Seleka

The three top faith leaders of the Central African Republic (CAR), who’ve won international recognition for efforts to end conflict in their country, have welcomed the appointment of a prosecutor for a Special Criminal Court. CAR has been beset by religious and ethnic conflict between mainly Muslim Séléka rebels and . . . Read More

Pastor killed, 2 churches destroyed in renewed violence in Central African Republic

February 13, 2017 Central African Republic Bambari, Bangui, Bocaranga, IDPs, PK5, Seleka

Hundreds of internally displaced people (IDPs), shaken by the renewed violence, have returned to the refugee camp at Bangui M’Poko Airport, where they sought refuge when the violence first erupted in 2013. A flare-up of violence in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), on 7 February left . . . Read More

Religious freedom a ‘reality’ in recovering CAR

August 26, 2015 Central African Republic Bambari, Bossangoa, Catherine Samba-Panza, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, PK5, UN

Left to right: Imam Oumar Kobine Layama, Msgr. Dieudonné Nzapalainga and Rev. Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou received the 2015 Sergio Vieira de Mello Prize at the UN office in Geneva, Switzerland on 19 Aug.World Watch Monitor The Central African Republic (CAR) is gradually recovering from the two-and-a-half-year crisis which ravaged the . . . Read More

Church and clerics attacked in CAR

August 4, 2015 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bambari, Bria, Central African Republic, Kaga Bandoro, Seleka

In July 2014, a ceasefire was signed between the two main warring groups in the Central African Republic: a predominantly Muslim rebel coalition known as Séléka, and violent vigilante groups opposing their advance, which became known as the “anti-Balaka” (“Balaka” means “machete”). Former members of the now-disbanded Séléka rebel movement, . . . Read More

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