Murder and mayhem continue to dominate the Central African Republic. Two recent days of clashes left at least 44 dead, six Chadian peacekeepers were killed in the former French colony, a mass grave with 30 bodies was uncovered, and assailants armed with heavy weapons attacked the presidential palace and residence of the Central African Republic's leader before being repelled. Needless to say, this country is an archetypical failed state. The country has been plunged into chaos as its Christian majority seeks revenge against the Muslim rebels who seized power in a coup in March. Ousted by rebel leader Michel Djotodia, Francois Bozize's attempts to regain power will not cease. Both sides now employ armed militias. A combined force of 1,600 French troops and 4,000 African Union soldiers has so far been unable to restore order. If anything, the foreign troops brought in to try to rein in the violence have been sucked into the conflict, and have been accused of taking sides. Caught in the middle are Christian and Muslim civilians who are now bearing the brunt of collective punishment. The chaos has forced 639,000 people out of a population of 4.5 million to flee their homes. All together two million people need humanitarian aid. The bloodshed is not all about religion. After all, this is a nation where Muslims and Christians have long lived in peace. Instead, there appears to be a political battle for control of resources in one of Africa's most weakly governed states which lacks a modicum of good governance. Despite vast resources, including gold, timber, diamonds and uranium, the Central African Republic remains among the poorest nations in the world. The riches from the minerals don't trickle down to the population, fueling resentment. World leaders have warned of mass atrocities if nothing is done, but the response has been limited and myopic. The Central African Republic is surrounded by countries struggling to emerge from years of conflict. South Sudan, Sudan's Darfur region, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad are barely stable, so any instability is sure to have ripple effects in the region that will be hard to ignore. Inclusive elections are crucial and must be held on time, which is February 2015. The vote is needed to ensure that this notoriously unstable nation has a legitimate government that represents the will of the people. The country is in an economic mess, a situation that aggravates ethnic tensions. Burying a bloody tribal conflict that has raged for decades between northerners and southerners and has taken thousands of lives alone would be a big enough prize for Bangui. It would facilitate the modernization of one of the world's least developed countries. It would rejuvenate political life by weakening ethnic conflicts and redefining citizenship in civic rather than in ethnic, tribal and clan terms. It would open the polity up to all the ethnic and religious groups of the country. Political turmoil is nothing new for the Central African Republic. Four of the nation's five presidents since independence have been ousted through unconstitutional means. But these days are some of the worst for the African nation. The conflict has exposed years of marginalization and discrimination against the northern, predominantly Muslim population. Militia groups are banding together along religious lines. Most of the vigilante groups fighting back are Christian, leading to full-blown conflict between the country's Christians and Muslims. And as history has shown over and over, religious loyalties can breed contempt and escalate conflicts.
