Three Pastors Among Dead in Central African Republic

Friday, December 20, 2013

By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent

BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (Worthy News)-- Three pastors were among hundreds killed this month during three days of sectarian violence in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, as reported by Religion Today.

Each pastor leaves behind a bereaved wife and her children.

Pastors Raymond Doui, 46, Elisha Zama, 33 and Jean-Louis Makamba, 48 were among those killed by Muslim rebels in retaliation for a recent counter-offensive against them by local non-Muslim militias.

Armed with firearms and machetes, rebel Muslims went from house to house killing Christians regardless of their age and sex. When they were done, the streets of Bangui were strewn with corpses; the Red Cross would later bury 400 bodies in mass graves, but the remains of those interned by their own relatives may double the number of dead.

CAR was thrown into turmoil in March when a coalition of rebel groups led by Michel Djotodia forced President Francois Bozize into exile.

After Djotodia assumed power, he disbanded his Seleka militia in September, but its Muslim members have become brigands who continue to loot, rape and murder CAR's populace with impunity.