Christian rebels set stage for violence

Muslim rulers in Central African Republic after attack on capital

accused of killing civilians and burning down hundreds of homes in predominantly Muslim communities. Just days before the anti-balaka forces attacked the capital, a vicious morning attack on a village near Boali left nearly a dozen Muslim women and children slaughtered.

Puissance insists their fighters were not involved in that attack, saying his militiamen only kill armed Muslims.

The anti-balaka are working in tandem with members of Bozizé’s national army, known as FACA. Under the command of Alfred Rombhot (pronounced Rambo), about 2,000 men are ready to fight Djotodia’s forces with everything from machetes to poisoned bow-and-arrows, Rombhot said.

“We are not mercenaries — we have formed to defend our country,” Rombhot said.

“We have the population behind us.”

The forces live on the grounds of an abandoned school. On Sunday afternoon, groups of young men sat in the shade of trees while they cleaned their weapons.

Still, the leadership of their Christian militia allies remains disparate and divided. On Saturday, another group of anti-balaka leaders released a handwritten statement to journalists urging its fighters to give peace talks a chance.

It was impossible to determine how much support any one faction held. But the sheer volume of armed men suggested the negotiators were in the minority. The fighters in the hills near Bangui said Sunday these men did not represent the true anti-balaka.

“There will be no reconciliation!” Bejouane said forcefully.

JéRôME DELAY/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Christian militiamen stand in a forest clearing outside the Central African Republic capital, Bangui. French forces are supposed to be disarming all sides of the conflict, though the Christians’ hideouts have made them harder to find.