Source: Christian Post, January 21, 2014
A Central African Republic priest has opened his church as a shelter to Muslims fleeing the Christian militias terrorizing his community.
“I am not going to let anyone hurt the people inside my church; it doesn’t matter whether they are Christians or Muslims,” Xavier Fagba, who leads a church in Boali, a city northwest of the capital Bangui, told FRANCE 24.
At the service on Sunday, Fagba told his congregation to make their Muslim counterparts feel comfortable and greet one another with a “kiss of peace.”
“We just stop causing people pain,” he said.
Jean-Claude, a Christian, encouraged Ahmad – his Muslim neighbor for years – with a hug at the end of the service.
“You need to be strong. Stay positive,” Jean-Claud told his neighbor, who recently had his house destroyed in the violence.
Ahmad said that although he felt that there were individuals trying to protect him, he felt that he would not be fully safe unless he made it to the capital.
“There are people here who are good to us,” Ahmad told The Daily Nation. “But we can’t stay here any longer. We have to leave. I want to go to Bangui. At least there is still some safety there.”
Currently about 70 French troops are guarding Fagba’s church, where 700 Muslims, mostly women and children, are staying. The volume of people has put a strain on the church’s resources, especially its sanitary conditions, however, without a method to evacuate the people safely, they are planning to remain sheltered there.
» Some readers might be interested in a related story, Victimized Christians Take Revenge in Central African Republic; Man Eats Muslim After Christian Mob Attack (Warning: video contains violent and disturbing images).
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