The Christian militiamen fighting to oust Central African Republic's Muslim president from power hide in the hills far on the edge of the capital. Out of the forest of banana trees, about two dozen young men slowly emerge to meet their visitors armed with clubs, machetes and hunting rifles.
These 20- and 30-somethings don't look much different from the young men who sell air time for mobile phones in town, apart from their weapons and the spiritual protection they wear. On top of their soccer jerseys and t-shirts, they sport long rope necklaces with leather pieces and charms known as gri-gri that they say will save them from the bullets and machetes of their enemy.
As ragtag as they may appear, they pose the greatest threat to the Muslim ex-rebels now ruling the country since they seized power in the majority Christian country nearly nine months ago. And in interviews with The Associated Press, both the militiamen and a former officers in the national army before the March 2013 coup confirmed they are working together to topple rebel leader-turned-President Michel Djotodia.
"We are revolting so that Djotodia and his fighters leave, and the country can live in peace," said Richard Bejouane, 27, who used to harvest manioc root and peanuts before taking up arms against the rebels known as Seleka earlier this year.
Though the militia movement's hierarchy is unclear and there are divisions in its leadership, the collaboration is evidence that the opposition movement to Djotodia and his fighters is growing, and could set the stage for a protracted sectarian conflict even as 1,600 French troops on the ground in Bangui try to secure the peace. French forces are supposed to be disarming Muslim and Christian fighters, though the Christian militia hideouts in the bush have made them harder to find.
Central African Republic's Muslims and Christians had lived together in relative harmony until the northern rebels backed by mercenary fighters from neighbouring Sudan and Chad overtook the capital in March. Christians felt the rebels particularly the foreign fighters had targeted them in indiscriminate attack, fuelling the resentment that has given rise to an armed movement.
