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Senegalese
soldiers from the United Nations Mission in Central African Republic patrol in
Bangui on December 10, 2015 ©Marco Longari (AFP)
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Two
weeks after Pope Francis appealed to Muslims and Christians in the Central
African Republic to live as "brothers and sisters", the volatile
nation holds a referendum Sunday aimed at ending its bloody sectarian strife.
After
more than two years of fighting that forced 10 percent of the population to
flee the country, the December 13 vote on a new constitution is seen as a test
run for presidential and parliamentary polls scheduled two weeks later.
AFP report continues:
But
despite the presence of 11,000 UN and French peacekeepers, part of the
impoverished country remains out of bounds, either under the control of rebel
chieftains or bandits.
UN
peacekeepers must escort convoys of trucks carrying voting slips that leave
every day from Bangui for the interior, due to the volatile situation in parts
of the country.
UN
chief Ban Ki-moon appealed on the eve of the vote to ensure "that the
referendum is conducted in a peaceful and credible manner" and called it a
"significant milestone towards the end of the transition in the Central
African Republic".
The
widespread chaos has hampered organization of the ballot by the country's
interim authorities, with few election posters visible on the streets just
hours beforehand.
More
significantly, only 15,000 copies of the new constitution have been printed,
meaning few voters are fully aware of its contents.
Almost
two million Central Africans have registered to vote in a population of 4.8
million -- highlighting hopes the election will be the first step in a return
to peace and normalcy.
But
voter registration cards, printed in France, only arrived in Bangui on
Wednesday, in time for the December 27 polls but too late for the referendum on
Sunday.
Many
of the 5,600 polling stations are located in remote areas accessible only by
dirt roads.
The
National Election Authority therefore decided to allow Central Africans to
present only the receipts of their registration requests at polling booths, it
said in a statement.
And
of the 460,000 people living in camps across Central African Republic's borders
-- many of them Muslims -- only 26 percent have been able to register.
In
the volatile capital Bangui, which has been far quieter since the pope's bold
24-hour visit, peacekeepers are on edge. "Here things can blow up very
quickly," said a security source who declined to be identified.
"The
conditions are not right for an election," said Maxime Mokom, a leader of
the Christian militia known as the "anti-balaka" set up to battle the
mainly Muslim Seleka rebel force.
- 'Make-or-break' -
However,
Mathieu Bile, who heads the UN mission in Central Africa's election department
said the "simple fact that this vote can be held is very positive".
The
pontiff had made an impassioned appeal for peace.
"Christians
and Muslims are brothers and sisters," Pope Francis said in a message.
The
former French colony plunged into its worst crisis since independence after
longtime Christian leader Francois Bozize was ousted by rebels from the Seleka
force in March 2013, triggering a wave of violence with "anti-balaka"
militias.
"Together,
we must say no to hatred, to revenge and to violence, particularly that
violence which is perpetrated in the name of a religion or of God
himself," the pope said.
But
senior rebel figure Nourredine Adam has threatened to block elections in areas
under his control.
His
Patriotic Front for the Renaissance of Central Africa (FPRC), a splinter
faction of the former Seleka rebel group that staged a coup in 2013, is staging
an armed revolt in northern Kaga Bandoro.
"The
elections might be difficult in Kaga Bandoro and one or two other places,"
said an EU diplomat, who added however that the stakes would be highest in the
country's most densely populated regions in Bangui and the west.
The
international community, which has been pouring aid into the country for over
two years, is keen for the referendum as well as the follow-up elections to
take place.
"These are
make-or-break elections," said the International Crisis Group's Thierry
Vircoulon.
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