Paul KeenanThe United Nations’ representative in the Central African Republic (CAR) has warned that the country is experiencing a “mega crisis” and called for a greater international effort to prevent the situation there spiralling violently out of control as rival factions continue to attack each other.
Having arrived in the capital, Bangui, John Ging, UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that nearly all basic necessities for a return to normal life in CAR had been destroyed, complicating matters for at least one million people displaced amid fears of an escalation in tensions between faith communities.
Stark
“The options are stark: stay in the jungle and die or come back and possibly be killed,” Mr Ging said, adding that rebuilding the country now “is a huge task”.
Despite an earlier call by the CAR’s Catholic bishops for observers not to oversimplify the national situation as one based on religious dimensions, France’s ambassador to the United Nations offered a bleak assessment of matters in which his country’s peacekeeping force now finds itself caught between communities of Muslims and Christians intent on killing each other. “We knew that there was some inter-sectarian violence, but we didn’t forecast such deep ingrained hatred, Ambassador Gerard Araud said during a United Nations meeting on January 15.
“We maybe need to work with psychologists or ethnologists on how did it appear, and now, how to cool down the situation.”