God and that Christian woman saved me, says local imam
EVERY morning, Imam Hussein Mala rises early and walks three blocks to Attick mosque in PK5, a Muslim enclave in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic. At the mosque, he prays and reads the Koran.
On his way home he buys food from a hawker, a Christian neighbour he has known for years.
On Friday last week, he stopped to buy tomatoes and she shouted at him: “Run, papa, run, they are coming.” He turned to see dozens of people carrying stones and machetes bearing down on him.
The imam ran down the narrow streets and made it to the nearby market, but not without using his arm to stop a machete aimed at his neck, sustaining a wound on his elbow. At the market, a stallholder let him into his shop, locked the door and called nearby French troops to rescue him.
The mob later returned to the Christian’s stall and trashed her wares, calling her a traitor. She has since fled the district.
“God and that Christian woman saved me,” said the imam. “If she hadn’t warned me, I would have been killed.”
Witnesses said the mob’s leader was Ardoum Dewa, a 25-year-old corporal in the Central African army who had grown up as a Muslim in PK5. He later became a member of the anti-balaka militia and conducted a reign of terror in his old neighbourhood.
On Monday, Dewa made a fatal mistake when he visited PK5’s market in his army uniform.
There are conflicting versions of what happened next.
One is by Imam Waziri Yaya of Ali Babalo mosque near the PK5 market and Musa Sany, a childhood acquaintance of Dewa. They say Dewa was outside the mosque when a crowd advanced on him. He ran into the mosque courtyard, hoping to escape, but the gate was locked. He ran back into the street, pulled out a grenade and shouted: “I’m not going to die alone.” Two men in the crowd jumped on him and the grenade exploded before he could throw it. Dewa was killed and the two men wounded.
Yaya was shocked when Dewa joined the anti-balaka in December. “Dewa grew up in this area. He converted to Islam in this mosque when he was 12. How could he kill his brothers?”
Sany said Dewa was a common criminal before joining the army of François Bozizé, who has since been wounded.
At Dewa’s home in the nearby PK3 district, his family and friends, including fellow soldiers, mourned him. He leaves a pregnant wife and two-year-old son. They paint a picture of a loving husband, devoted father and breadwinner for the extended family.
“He looked after everyone,” said his father, Robert Balezou, a member of the gendarmerie.
His brother, Jean, said Yaya concocted the story that Dewa killed himself — and gave another version of events. He said Dewa was wearing his uniform the day he was killed because he had been to a meeting at army headquarters about outstanding pay.
“From there he went to PK5 to buy some shoes for his nephews,” he said. “The Muslims had kidnapped my brother and slit his throat with a knife.”
Jean took out a photograph. It showed Dewa’s head, hacked almost clean from his torso. There were no signs of shrapnel wounds.
The family would not seek to avenge his death, he said. “God will take revenge. We don’t have weapons, just our faith in God.”
Dewa’s fellow soldiers may not be so forgiving.