(Bria) Reports are coming in that Islamist rebels who used to belong to the now-disbanded Séléka rebel group the Popular Front for the Central African Renaissance (FPRC) murdered up to 42 people at the start of this month in the Central African Republic town of Bria.
The victims were mainly women, who were hacked to death while returning from their farms to the predominantly Christian quarter of Bria, in the centre of the country.
The Central African Republic which is 90% Christian and around 10% Islamic started suffering from an Islamic rebel problem from around 2001.In 2012 the rebels signed a peace agreement with the government, however within days the rebels (all Islamic) decided that control of the country was within their grasp and they achieved this aim a year later with the rebel leader proclaiming himself leader on the 28th March 2013. He disbanded the rebels on the 13th September 2013 and they not happy with being out of a job have been running riot ever since. However in taking control of the country by the use of the bullet and the bomb, the Islamic rebels woke up the 90% Christian majority and they formed anti-rebel groups and have been using sheer weight of numbers to address the balance. For example the Islamic population of Bangui which numbered 138,000 in 2013 had fallen to 900 a year later.
Into the fray entered the French and the UN, however by using so called human rights in which to communicate with the rebels and the anti-rebel groups they have allowed the fires of distrust to continue to burn resulting in many deaths the latest being 42 Christian women.
