UN forces patrol as voters go to the polls in CAR
Print Edition
CENTRAL African Republic yesterday went ahead with a presidential runoff vote that many hope will solidify a tentative peace after more than two years of sectarian fighting left untold thousands dead and forced nearly half a million people to flee to neighboring countries.
Armored United Nations personnel carriers roamed the streets of the capital Bangui, as residents headed to the polls. About 2,000 UN peacekeepers are deployed in the capital while 8,000 others are trying to secure the vote in the largely anarchic provinces.
Residents said they planned to set aside painful memories of the chaos that intensified in late 2013 when Christian militia fighters known as the anti-Balaka attacked Bangui, unleashing cycles of retaliatory violence with mostly Muslim Seleka fighters. At the height of the violence, Muslim civilians bore the wrath of vengeance-seeking mobs that killed and dismembered victims in the streets.
The conflict at the time was a political dispute over who would lead Central African Republic, but it divided communities among religious fault lines. A new spasm of violence late last year effectively barricaded most of Bangui’s remaining Muslims inside the PK5 neighborhood for several months.
Now voters are being given a choice of two former prime ministers — both promising to unite the country and bring the peace people desperately want.
Frontrunner Anicet Georges Dologuele received about 24 percent in the first round and also was endorsed by the third-place finisher. However, Faustin Archange Touadera has strong grassroots support after placing second in the December ballot.
Both men cast their votes yesterday morning under the protection of heavily armed UN peacekeepers.
Noel Poutou, 74, a lifelong resident of the PK5 neighborhood, has not ventured outside it over the past two years.
“Everything has a beginning and an end,” he said. “For me, this is the end of the crisis. Everyone here has lost loved ones and friends. I ask God to bring peace so that people can forget and become a family here again.”
Tensions, though, were high as some people were momentarily blocked from voting because they did not have photo identification along with their voting cards. Such ID was not required in the first round of balloting, and many people said they lost their papers along with their homes during the latest wave of violence late last year as Seleka fighters attacked predominantly Christian neighborhoods.
“I’ve been standing here in line since 5am,” said Anne-Marie Betaboye.
“My house was burned to the ground ... We only want peace with our Muslim brothers.”
A period of relative calm has taken hold in the months since the November visit of Pope Francis. He set an example for many, residents said, by going to PK5 to meet with Muslim community leaders even as peacekeepers manned sniper points in case his entourage came under attack.
Security was tight yesterday in PK5, where UN peacekeepers used metal detectors to search voters for weapons.
Mamadou Daoma Aoidi, 57, said more than a dozen of his relatives had come back to Bangui since the pope’s visit after spending more than a year in refugee camps in Cameroon.
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