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OPEN CALL
01 – 30, MAY 2026

Isabel Corthier

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

Belgium

Balancing on the rope of peace

During generations and generations, Muslims and Christians have been living together in harmony in the Central African Republic. Inter-religious marriages were no exception and people easily converted from one religion to the other. Since the end of 2013, a political-economical conflict slowly started to take on a religious identity. Over time, Christian and Muslim communities got more and more opposed to each other. A conflict between armed groups (the Seleka and the Anti-Balaka) evolved into a horrible civil war between two armed communities. In Bangassou, a little town in the Southeast of the country, Muslims and Christians decided to create a mediation committee with the aim to solve existing local tensions and conflicts before they would escalate. Despite a growing hatred between the two communities, for years Bangassou balanced on the fragile rope of peace. In 2017 rebels entered the peaceful town and sadly dragged it as well into the devastating conflict. This reportage was made in the middle of 2015, two years before the rebels entered and while the mediation committee was still very active.

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