Blood Diamonds and Religious War In The Central African Republic

[Music] follow [Music] [Music] since early 2013 the Central African Republic has been torn apart by sectarian conflict in March of 2013 the Celica a mostly Muslim Coalition of rebels overthrew a corrupt government they swept across the majority Christian country bringing it close to Anarchy most mostly Christian fighting group known as the anti balica started fighting back in December 2013 Vice news was there to witness a major turning point in the conflict antiel attacked Muslim civilians for their perceived support of the Celica thousands of Muslims fled the Central African Republic is located right in the heart of Africa and it's one of the poorest countries in the world but it's rich in natural resources including gold and diamonds and many want to stake in it Vice news traveled to the minds in the heart of the country to see how the fight over natural resources is playing out in one of the world's most volatile conflicts we're on the road to Boda it's where a lot of the diamond mines are located about 6 hours from the capital bong in the west of the Central African Republic anti bolic have taken control of many of the key gold and diamond rich areas nearly all of the Muslims have been forced out but Christians remain due to the conflict the official mining industry has collapsed but a lot of the gold and diamonds are still smuggled out from across the country and according to the United Nations both Celica and the antiel militias are taking a cut it's it's being played out as an internal political problem at the end of the day it's it's actually just in my opinion just control over gold fields and gold concessions there is serious money to be made in this country and that has to be seen as one of the key drivers so where does that money go I think it goes where it went when bizi was president when Pat was president before him it goes into the pockets it's certainly where it doesn't go is it certainly doesn't benefit the people of the Central African Republic [Music] fighting over mines has created religious tensions where there were none before prior to the conflict many mins were controlled by Muslim Traders these Merchants have either fled or they're being blocked from working in the mines amadu yaum is bod's head Imam he explained to us how the fighting has impacted the Muslim Community historically we have seen Muslims being involved with a lot of the mining so they were uh the middlemen they they have extensive trade Works in uh central Africa and in West Africa and now we've seen with the rise of the anti balaka which is mainly a Christian Movement have literally kicked out I think more than 90% of the Muslims Buddhist Muslims say they've coexisted with others in this region for more than a century now they say they'll be killed if they leave their neighborhood many have horrific stories of being attacked yuua was captured by anti balika with his brother he managed to escape his friend told us the story don't [Music] [Applause] in the center of bodha is a no man's land that divides Muslim and Christian neighborhoods it used to be the Town Central Market but all of the shops have been destroyed in the fighting between both sides at DUS kids from the Muslim side come out into the streets what looks like an effort to instigate a fight with the other side [Music] many in the Christian neighborhood say they've been attacked too bodh Christians used to work with Muslims together in the nearby diamond mines now the Christians have taken total control over these areas [Music] [Music] run our way to the diamond mines outside of boat takes about an hour and a half on these motorcycle taxis to get there this part of the Central African Republic is really really underdeveloped it's all there is there are no roads in sight anywhere near here before the recent fighting 70% of the country's population lived below the poverty line according to the United Nations that number has now dramatically increased some are left to rely on traditional foods like termites and sparrows to feed their families the situation so bad access to mines has become even more [Music] essential [Music] foree before the conflict the sale of gold and diamonds was a key source of revenue for the government but in 2013 the Central African Republic was kicked out of the Kimberly process the international agreement that tries to prevent the sale of blood diamonds so the country can no longer legally export them in September of 2014 the African Union's peacekeeping Mission here ended and a new United Nations Le mission was launched their job is to protect civilians and support the interim government under the presidency of Katherine sanza peacekeeping officials say a top priority of the UN mission is to reclaim control over the mines so the government has access to cash well we're dealing with a government that's extremely uh poor that that can't pay civil servants can't do infrastructure development can't invest in hospitals and schools and rebuild the country uh mining activities uh used to account for roughly 40% of revenue for the state and it is a crucial sector uh to get restarted and to get cleaned up so we have some legitimate uh Finance coming into the country the Central African Republic lies in a fragile state the minerals under its soil could be a source for peace or or War without finding a stable way to extract them the fight over natural resources will continue to fend the Flames of [Music] conflict [Music]

Channel: VICE News

Views: 2,314,401

Keywords: Blood Diamonds and Religious War, religious war, Blood Diamond, vice central african republic, muslim, christian, anti-balaka, seleka, french, car, central african republic, war-torn, civil war, war, conflict, united nations, violence, refugees, minus, bangui, africa, Diamond, VICE News, news, VICE, documentary, world news, breaking news, documentaries, interview, world, exclusive, independent, videos, journalism, vice.com, vice mag, Religion, natural resources africa

Id: FbT_b0obeg8

Length: 10min 38sec (638 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 28 2015