Residents of the Central African Republic gathered in churches to mourn yesterday after hundreds of people were killed in violence between Christian and Muslim communities, prompting France to intervene in its former colony.
Residents and aid workers described a period of relative calm after three days of fighting but said sporadic gunfire had continued overnight in some areas.
The Central African Republic has descended into chaos as interim president Michel Djotodia, who seized power in March, has struggled to control his loose band of Muslim fighters, who have attacked members of the Christian majority and prompted them to organise defence militias.
The country, rich in gold, diamonds and uranium, has seen little but conflict and political instability since independence from France in 1960.
The Red Cross has reported 394 dead since the latest wave of killings began on December 5 and said it was working to recover the remaining bodies.
Residents of both faiths have huddled in churches for protection from the armed groups.
Thousands of people attended a Sunday morning service at St Paul's church in the riverside capital of Bangui. Makeshift beds inside the church were removed temporarily to allow space for prayer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article