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Shortened title. Full title: Muslim Militants Surround Christian Church, They Break Inside, Grab The Pastor And Stab Him To Death, They Then Burn The Entire Church To The Ground Muslim militants surrounded a Christian Church in Central Africa, taking the pastor and stabbing him to death before burning the whole church down. As we read in one report: A Christian pastor has been killed and two churches destroyed in brutal revenge attacks by Muslim rebels in the Central African Republic. Pastor Jean-Paul Sankagui of the Eglise du Christ en Centrafrique was attacked and stabbed to death by supporters of Muslim...

European Union foreign ministers on Monday unanimously approved a joint military force to assist French and African troops trying to quell anarchy and bloodshed in Central African Republic. The 28-nation bloc is now preparing operational details to dispatch about 500 soldiers to stabilize the situation in and around the country’s capital, Bangui, said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. However, it is still mostly unclear which nations will contribute soldiers to the EU mission. …

New York, US - UN agencies on Friday expressed alarm at the increasing rate of human rights violations in the Central African Republic (CAR), following reports of burnt and abandoned villages, massive displacement, as well as looting and torture. PANA in New York reported that members of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), along with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), travelled last week to the town of Paoua, 500 kilometres north of the capital, Bangui. They found seven villages burnt to the ground and deserted and the eighth partially burnt with...

The president of the Central African Republic has fled the country's capital and rebels have seized control of the city, a government official said Sunday. President Francois Bozize crossed into the Democratic Republic of Congo, said Jules Gautier Ngbapo, a spokesman for the government's territorial administration minister. He declined to disclose Bozize's location Sunday. "Central Africans are waiting for the new president to be named," Ngbapo said in a written statement. Word of Bozize's surprise departure came as violence erupted in the capital, Bangui. Witnesses reported hours of gunfire, and Ngbapo said at least seven civilians were killed as rebels...

President Obama sent approximately 50 U.S. military personnel to Chad earlier this week to aid in the evacuation of U.S. embassy personnel and U.S. citizens from the neighboring Central African Republic. In a letter to congressional leaders on Saturday, Obama cited the “deteriorating security situation” in the Central African Republic and the threat to U.S. citizens. U.S. embassy personnel and several private U.S. citizens were evacuated from the Central African Republic capital of Bangui on Thursday. Obama said the “stand-by security force” was deployed for the sole purpose of protecting U.S. citizens and property. Rebels in the Central African Republic...

BANGUI, Central African Republic - The African hosts of Jean-Bertrand Aristide have asked the exiled Haitian leader to stop blaming the United States for his ouster as they work to get another country to take him, a top official said Tuesday. Aristide, who resigned Sunday and came to the Central African Republic on a flight arranged by the U.S. government, said American troops forced him to leave Haiti — a claim adamantly denied by Secretary of State Colin Powell and other American officials. His claim — made in interviews with The Associated Press, members of the U.S. Congress and activists...

BANGUI, Central African Republic March 15 — Insurgents loyal to a former army chief captured the Central African Republic's airport, large swathes of its capital and several presidential residences on Saturday while the president was out of the country. Intense artillery and smaller arms fire began around 3:15 p.m. local time as the rebels entered the capital, Bangui, from the north. The fighters identified themselves to residents as loyalists of former Army chief Francois Bozize, whose forces narrowly failed to capture the capital during fighting in October. Shooting also started at the nation's main international airport. The fighters claimed they...

US evacuates Americans from CAR; coup forces reported holding roads out of city BANGUI, Central African Republic, Nov 02, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Coup forces were reported to be controlling the roads out of the Central African Republic capital on Saturday, and fears of new fighting ran high in a tense city running short of food. A U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo plane evacuated Americans. The plane carried out more than two dozen people - U.S. Embassy workers, other Americans, and other foreign nationals, Lt. Col. Pat Barnes said at U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany. "Everyone...

The United States is pulling its diplomats out of the Central African Republic and closing its embassy in the capital Bangui. On Wednesday the authorities in the Central African Republic announced that the rebels had been forced out of the capital and that peace had been restored. However the US foreign ministry says the situation in Bangui is still dangerous. US nationals have been told by Washington to leave the Central African Republic if the security situation allows. The international airport in Bangui is closed. Rebel militias entered the capital a week ago and there was heavy fighting. Government forces...