The Central African Republic has a new President. It is Ms. Samba Panza. She gave a speech today to thousands, and ‘Re-introduced’ the Army (FACA Armed Forces of Central Africa) to the people.
She was proud of the fact that the Army would receive pay for the first time in months. And then something turned very wrong. News agency’s like The Telegraph and France 24 are reporting that the soldiers beat a man to death in front of thousands and numerous international journalists. They stripped him and drug him through the streets.
I’m sure she wanted to give the people hope, after what they had just been through. Thousands lost their lives, even children, beheaded, tortured, stabbed and villages burned, but it was all but joyous and hopeful. The man beaten and stabbed was accused of being a Seleka without trial, only death. Evidently one man tried to intervene, but they tried to attack him and he barely escaped with his life. Peter Bouckaert of the UN Human Rights Watch witnessed the attack and said: “He was dead within 2 minutes, “A man just walked up with the severed leg of the lynching victim, just walking around,” tweeted a shocked Bouckaert.”
Was this a message sent by the Armed Forces? I don’t know, but this is absolutely atrocious and abhorrent. The Telegraph reported it was a “Brazen Murder carried out with the utmost brutality” and I agree. They described the man as an innocent bystander. It’s reported the attack happened just after the new President left. They did say that the Berundian soldiers tried to protect him, but as the crowd grew more furious they abandoned him. The mob stabbed him stripped him and drug him through the streets before setting him on fire with tires.
Here is a video describing the events. It begins at about the 3:13 mark:
France still has 1600 soldiers there and the African Union has another 5,000 there. From past research it was found that France has had a terrible time controlling the Armed Forces in the region. And apparently the African Union can’t gain control either. They are in an unfathomable, perpetual, successive Revolution of violence.
Pray for peace, pray for calm, pray for the religious leaders. This will not end without God’s calming hand. It is on the verge of all out Holy War. I still have questions, questions about the forces behind some of this never ending retaliation.
Related:
- Central African Republic soldiers lynch man at army ceremony(LA Times)
- Central African Republic soldiers murder man in cold blood after presidential speech (Telegraph)
VOICE OF THE PERSECUTED 