21 May, 2017
Clashes between rival Christian and Muslim militias in the Central African Republic (CAR) town of Bria have claimed the lives of at least 22 people, including 17 civilians, and displaced 10,000 others over the past week.
Concerns are mounting that sectarian violence is again spiraling out of control in the country, even in places that previously were spared during the conflict that began in late 2013.
The violence spread to Bria on Tuesday as fighting between the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels and the anti-Balaka left at least five dead and 29 injured, United Nations mission spokesman Herve Verhoosel said Wednesday.
On Friday, the rival factions fought over Bria's airstrip.
The U.N. reported more than 30 dead on Tuesday.
"The hard-earned relative calm in [the capital] Bangui and some of the bigger towns in vehicle risks being eclipsed by the descent of some rural areas into increasing sectarian violence, with defenceless civilians - as usual - paying the highest price", Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said.
The U.N. mission "deeply regrets that one more time, civilians pay the highest price", he said.
"Armed groups came to humanitarian compounds and pillaged a warehouse", the agency's chief of office for the country, Joseph Inganji, told The Associated Press.
"The persistence of insecurity shows us local realities are not being taken seriously", the commission said in a statement, published May 18 in the capital, Bangui. "These are stirring up ethnic and religious divides".
In March the same year, the country fell into chaos when then President Francois Bozize was ousted by the mainly Seleka rebel alliance and was replaced by Michel Am-Nondokro Djotodia, the first Muslim to hold the presidency in the generally-Christian nation. Human Rights Watch said at least 14 people were killed over 11 days of fighting in Bria.
WFP started to airlift food to the southeastern border town of Bangassou, to distribute to about 7,200 people, mostly women and children, affected by deadly militia fighting in early- to mid-May. Businesses in the Muslim neighborhood of PK5 were closed in protest of the violence in Bangassou, where Muslims reportedly were targeted.
