Media CenterChristian and Muslim Leaders Work Together to Build Peace in Central African Republic

Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga and Imam Omour Kobine Layama of Bangui pray together during a tour to spread the word of tolerance and reconciliation in Bangui, Central African Republic, in December 2013. Photo by Sam Phelps for CRS

After descending into chaos, the Central African Republic is seeing its Muslim population vanish. Those who haven’t been killed by militias are fleeing the country. The religious leader of the Muslim community in the Central African Republic, Imam Oumar Kobine Layama, says in the capital Bangui only 8 of the 36 mosques are still standing and that 80 percent of Muslims have fled the country. Archbishop Dieudonné Nzapalainga of Bangui, Pastor Franco Mbaye-Bondoi   and Imam Kobine Layama are working closely together to rebuild peace between the two religious communities. Before heading to the United Nations in New York on the 13 March, they both travelled up and down their country to meet the people. They went to Bangassou, 780 kilometres east of the capital, to bring together Christians and Muslims in a dialogue and reconciliation meeting. “The history of the Central African Republic has been marked by the diversity of its people. Christians and Muslims have always traded together and lived alongside each other in harmony,” said Archbishop Dieudonné. “The country cannot rebuild itself in the absence of one of these two communities. Not only must peace be built, but the Muslims who’ve fled the country must also be persuaded to come back home,” he said. The two religious leaders then drove more than 1,000 kilometres through remote villages in the north of the country, with the archbishop at the wheel of his 4×4, escorted by armed soldiers from the African Union peacekeeping mission (MISCA).