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Alindao, Central African Republic, Nov 16, 2018 / 04:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- At least 42 people have died in an attack Thursday on the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Alindao, in the Central African Republic, according to local reports. At least one priest was among those killed in the Nov. 15 attack. Some unofficial estimates have said the death toll could reach as high as 100. Many of the people killed were refugees sheltering at the Church. The CAR has suffered violence since December 2012, when several bands of mainly Muslim rebel groups formed an alliance, taking the name...

Muslims in the western part of Central African Republic are being forced to hide their religion or convert to Christianity under threat of death, Amnesty International said Friday. […] Widespread human rights abuses committed by Seleka led to the formation of a Christian militia known as the anti-Balaka, who have targeted Muslims and sent tens of thousands fleeing to neighboring countries. Muslims told Amnesty International they’ve been forced to convert or hide practices. “We had no choice but to join the Catholic Church. The anti-balaka swore they’d kill us if we didn’t,” said a 23-year-old man in the Sangha-Mbaere prefecture,...

Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The Central African Republic named its first Muslim prime minister on Sunday as part of an effort to create a more inclusive government and end more than a year of sectarian violence. Together with Samba-Panza, a Christian, Kamoun faces the difficult task of revitalising a delicate political transition aimed at ending deadly sectarian violence and disarming militias in one of Africa's poorest countries. The latest unrest in the CAR began in March 2013 when the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition toppled the ruling regime and put Michel Djotodia -- the country's first Muslim president...

Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Peacekeepers in the Central African Republic declared war on the majority-Christian vigilante known as "anti-balaka" on Wednesday as the UN warned the militia had crossed a red line by attacking international troops. The head of the MISCA African force blamed the groups for a series of attacks on peacekeepers in the former French colony, and said they would be treated as "enemies". "From now on, we consider the anti-balaka as enemies of MISCA," Congolese General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko said in remarks carried by a private radio station. "And we will treat them as such."...