Samba-Panza calls for restraint

A mass breakout of a few 500 inmates from the central prison on Sunday night, many of them anti-balaka members, fed fears of an escalation of violence.

“We want the redeployment of the Central African army forces throughout the country and the departure of global forces that do absolutely nothing to prevent this crisis”, said student Asseni Ngbo Roselin.

With barricades blocking traffic, central Bangui stood largely empty as French and United Nations peacekeepers patrolled key areas.

The violence was sparked by the killing of a Muslim man whose body was left near a mosque Saturday.

Catherine Samba-Panza, CAR’s interim president, returned to the capital on Wednesday, leaving the UN General Assembly in New York session earlier than planned.

In an address broadcast on national radio late Tuesday, Samba Panza – who the protesters are demanding step down – appealed for peace and urged citizens to return to their homes.

Around 100 people were wounded in the bloodshed, prompting the government to impose a curfew on the capital.

The UN Security Council also issued a statement on Monday expressing “deep concern about the upsurge of violence” and repeated its demand that all militias and non-state armed groups immediately lay down their arms.

“This is a huge setback for the preservation of law and order, and for the fight against impunity, which has been and remains a chronic problem in auto”, he told reporters.

Looters targeted the offices of the UN’s World Food Programme, French medical NGO Premire Urgence and the Dutch NGO Cordaid, police said, indicating they had repelled them in several places. One of the dead was killed in a mainly Muslim district and the other in a clash near the airport, witnesses said, without giving details.

The Seleka stepped aside in the mostly Christian country in 2014 under pressure from the United Nations and former colonial ruler France.

Amnesty worldwide on Wednesday warned illegal trading in diamonds, which are technically banned from export under a 2013 deal, could also fuel violence as militias profit from their sale.

“It is a decision that must be taken with the entire political class, with all the Central African actors, so that together we see, by the end of 2015, on what date we can organize the constitutional referendum and presidential and legislative elections”, she said.

The Red Cross’ difficulties highlight how quickly and severely the situation has deteriorated in Central African Republic, which has undergone waves of deadly sectarian fighting since Muslim rebels in early 2103 overthrew the president of a decade. He said that over the past year, Ms. Samba-Panza had negotiated with a broad spectrum of parties, and, with the assistance of the worldwide community, a roadmap had been drawn up that focused on, among others, economic advancement and institution-building with a view to eventual elections.