Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

Calls for secession surface amidst ethnic conflict in CAR

Rebels in the Central African Republic today called for secession as the conflict worsened between ethnic communities, reports The Guardian.
 
A petition on independence of the northern region of CAR called for a new ‘Republic of Northern Central Africa’ to solve the ethnic conflict was carried out last week reported Reuters.

Last week Archbishop Desmond Tutu warned that the country was on the brink of genocide as violence continued to escalate.

“The partition itself has already been done. Now there only remains the declaration of independence. They don’t want any Muslims. Rather than calling the country Central African Republic, they can call it the Central Africa Republic," said a pro-independence activist in the northern region, speaking of the predominantly Catholic southern regions of CAR. 

Calls for secession as a solution to CAR's ethnic conflict have been met with equal scepticism by some international analysts, arguing that the solution applied to Sudan may not always work.

“There may be an urgent need for a solution to isolate warring populations for a while to help subside the violence. But it will not be in the interest of all parties to seek secession of the mainly Muslim north away from the Catholic south,” a foreign relations expert at the University of Johannesburg, Koffi Kouakou, said.

See related article:
CAR on brink of genocide warns Desmond Tutu (20 April 2014)

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.