Free Republic

When rebel forces, led by Arab-speaking Muslims, seized control of the Central African Republic this March, it deepened fears that a co-ordinated Islamist insurgency could now be spreading through swathes of the continent. Four months on, the landlocked country is living through a reign of terror, largely directed against its Christian minority.“Churches have been routinely robbed and pillaged here, while Muslim mosques have been left untouched,” Mgr Cyriaque Gbate Doumalo, secretary-general of the Central African Republic’s Catholic bishops’ conference, told me in an interview. “Our public institutions aren’t functioning and our hospitals have been ransacked, leaving the sick and destitute...

President Francois Hollande says French troops are taking part in operations against Islamists in northern Mali. French troops "have brought support this afternoon to Malian units to fight against terrorist elements", he said. Armed groups, some linked to al-Qaeda, took control of northern Mali in April. Mr Hollande said the intervention complied with international law, and had been agreed with Malian President Dioncounda Traore. A state of emergency has been declared across the country. The militants said on Thursday that they had advanced further into government-controlled territory, taking the strategic central town of Konna. Mr Hollande said French military action...