杏MAP导航

By Emil Sandberg

While the Central African Republic has been dealing with violence and mourning for decades, two attacks, one in October 2024 and one in January 2025, seemed to tip the scales beyond the point of return for many people.

According to a report by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), these two waves of attacks in the Mbomou and Haut-Mbomou prefectures, resulted in at least 24 deaths—some of them victims of execution without trial.

We cannot accept this violence

Among other documented violations and abuses, the attackers also committed acts of sexual violence, including gang rape, torture, and other forms of cruel and degrading treatment against at least 14 women and 7 girls. 

Two girls and one woman were also victims of forced labour, while another woman was forcibly married to an attacker. 

According to the Vatican's Fides news agency, the two bishops wrote a pastoral letter on Sunday, June 8, reacting to the shocking events and the violence in the name of revenge that followed.

"We cannot accept that the southeast of our country, the Central African Republic, is the scene of violence of any kind, a land from which people are fleeing, a land of devastation." 

"In recent weeks, we have mourned deaths: FACA (Central African Armed Forces) soldiers, but also civilians,” continued Bishops Aguirre and Gazzera. “Civilians have been shot, wounded, tortured, and executed—with complete impunity." 

The two bishops recognized the thousands of civilians who have been forced to flee Zemio, Mboki, and Djema, including tens of thousands on their way to the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

“We think of villages that have been bombed, looted, and set on fire,” they added.

Dialogue can end the cycle

In recognizing these atrocities, Bishops Aguirre and Gazzera emphasized the importance of dialogue as a way to end this cycle of violence, offering the Catholic Church as neutral ground. 

“The Catholic Church is always ready and willing to welcome all people of good will around the table to discuss and work on peace, reconciliation, and development in the region," they said.

The Central African Bishops ended their letter by saying, "This is not the time for war, but for dialogue! It is not the time for violence, but the time to listen! It is not the time for suspicion, resentment, accusations, and jealousies, but the time to listen to the poor, to hear their cry for peace!"

The two bishops expressed their hope that resolving the conflict will allow every person in the Central African Republic to live in peace, making the country one where anyone can look at life and to the future with hope.