The CAR Cardinal also notes that there are people who joined militias and cannot put down their weapons now because they have no other means of earning a living.
He says that rebels who belong to more structured groups take possession of the lands they plunder. These, he adds, are more active in places where there are more riches, such as valuable wood and minerals.
In the interview with ACN, Cardinal Nzapalainga who has advocated for interreligious dialogue lauds the existing collaboration between leaders of all faiths to ensure that the conflict in CAR does not take a religious turn. This is especially because in the past, the Séléka militia, which was mostly Muslim, was known to attack Christians.
“We joined with other religious leaders in the country, with pastors and imams, and proclaimed loud and clear that this is not a religious conflict. We have always stood united against the risk of this turning into a confessional war, and this position has borne fruit. As religious leaders we are like parents in a family, we must lead by example,” he says.
The Cardinal adds, “Our citizens can see that we continued to be on good terms with each other and that we always continued to say that the divisions in our country were being imposed from outside.”
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“Our efforts at peacebuilding were made easier by the fact that in Central African society many families are mixed, and everybody has a cousin, an uncle, or somebody close who belongs to another religion but is still part of the same family tree,” he says.
In Bangui, the Spiritan Cardinal recalls witnessing “moments of brotherhood” where young Muslims helped to rebuild churches and young Christians helped to rebuild mosques.
He says that such moments of the brotherhood have had the positive effect of promoting unity among people of various faiths in CAR.
Cardinal Nzapalainga agrees that even though CAR is experiencing a terrible crisis, the Church shows an extraordinary vitality, manifested in the number of vocations to the Priesthood.
The period of crisis benefits Church growth, he says, and adds, “For our poorer compatriots, who live in pain, insecurity and poverty, God truly is the rock on which they can lean. During the unrest, when so many people were displaced, many found refuge in our churches, and some children were even born there.”
Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya’s Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.