Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Featured on Press TV: 'Driving Out Muslims Led to CAR Crisis'
Mon Aug 3, 2015 4:18PM
Press TV has conducted an interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire in Detroit, to discuss the ongoing crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR).
To watch this interview with Abayomi Azikiwe just click on the website below:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/08/03/423120/Africa-CAR-Seleka-antiBalaka-Muslims-Bangui
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: How critical and severe is the humanitarian crisis in the CAR?
Azikiwe: Well the crisis there even though it has not gotten as much press attention as it did in 2014 is still very much in evidence. Part of the crisis is the driving out of most of the Muslim population from the country. They were a minority. They only constituted about 15 percent of the overall population. However, the Muslim community owned a lot of the shops. It also controlled the transport of food and goods.
So with driving out the Muslim population, there is a situation where goods are no longer being circulated, the connections that the Muslim community had in the Central African Republic have been eviscerated. So that is a part of the underlying crisis that is going on right now. There is only an estimated 36,000 Muslims left in the country even though they were well over 600,000 two years ago.
Press TV: What are the main factors behind such a crisis?
Azikiwe: Well of course you have the instability in the Central African Republic in 2013 when the Seleka Coalition which was a Muslim dominated coalition came into the capital of Bangui and took control. They committed a lot of human rights violations and atrocities and as a result of that, the situation turned against the minority Muslim population because they were perceived as being supporters of Seleka.
So when the new government came into power, the anti-Balaka forces which is a Christian based militia began to carry out retribution attacks against the Muslim population and that is part of the problem that is still continuing right now inside the country.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire in Detroit, to discuss the ongoing crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR).
To watch this interview with Abayomi Azikiwe just click on the website below:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/08/03/423120/Africa-CAR-Seleka-antiBalaka-Muslims-Bangui
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: How critical and severe is the humanitarian crisis in the CAR?
Azikiwe: Well the crisis there even though it has not gotten as much press attention as it did in 2014 is still very much in evidence. Part of the crisis is the driving out of most of the Muslim population from the country. They were a minority. They only constituted about 15 percent of the overall population. However, the Muslim community owned a lot of the shops. It also controlled the transport of food and goods.
So with driving out the Muslim population, there is a situation where goods are no longer being circulated, the connections that the Muslim community had in the Central African Republic have been eviscerated. So that is a part of the underlying crisis that is going on right now. There is only an estimated 36,000 Muslims left in the country even though they were well over 600,000 two years ago.
Press TV: What are the main factors behind such a crisis?
Azikiwe: Well of course you have the instability in the Central African Republic in 2013 when the Seleka Coalition which was a Muslim dominated coalition came into the capital of Bangui and took control. They committed a lot of human rights violations and atrocities and as a result of that, the situation turned against the minority Muslim population because they were perceived as being supporters of Seleka.
So when the new government came into power, the anti-Balaka forces which is a Christian based militia began to carry out retribution attacks against the Muslim population and that is part of the problem that is still continuing right now inside the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment