Pope to Head into War Zone

Pope Francis’ visit to the Central African Republic next week will be the first time he steps into an active war zone.

It is a meaningful visit for locals that portrays the image of father coming to console his suffering children.

“In the minds and hearts of the people (Pope Francis) is a great figure,” the Rev. Hervé Hubert Koyassambia-Kozondo said in an interview with CNA.

To hear his message from within the borders of their own country “is very, very meaningful.”

Even a month ago, images of Francis could be seen throughout the country through TV and the media, he said, explaining that the pope is being talked about daily, so he’s “already there in reality.”

Related: ‘Wake Up’ with Pope Francis

To see the pope in person in their own community isn’t something that happens every day for citizens of the Central African Republic, he said, but for many will only happen “once in their lives.”

“So they are waiting for him, and they will welcome him as a true pastor of the universal Church. I like to say father, as a father, truly,” Kozondo said.

[lz_ndn video=29980330]

Francis’ words will be welcomed especially by the country’s Christian population, the Catholics in particular.

“What the pope says in favor of peace will have a lot of weight,” Kozondo said, but stressed that this peace must also be worked for.

“So they are waiting for him and they will welcome him as a true pastor of the universal Church. I like to say father, as a father, truly.”

Kozondo is from the archdiocese of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, and is currently studying in Rome. He spoke with journalists ahead of Pope Francis’ Nov. 29-30 visit to the country, as part of a wider visit to the African continent.

Pope Francis will be in Africa Wednesday through Nov. 30, and is scheduled to make stops in three countries. He will set foot in Kenya first, where he will stay from Wednesday until Friday, before moving on to Uganda Friday until Sunday. His last stop will be the Central African Republic, from Sunday until Nov. 30.

The last pontiff to visit the CAR was St. John Paul II in 1985, as part of a larger trip to Togo, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Zaire and Kenya.

Related: Pope: Faith Trumps the Law

Likely the greatest challenge Francis will face in the Central African Republic is the fact that the visit marks the first time he will be stepping into an active war zone, with new deaths reported daily.

The majority of tensions began in late 2012 when several bands of mainly Muslim rebel groups formed an alliance, taking the name Seleka. They left their strongholds in the north of the country and made their way south, seizing power from then-President Francois Bozize.

Since then, fear, uncertainty and violence have swept over the country in a conflict that has so far left some 6,000 people dead.

The country will hold both presidential and parliamentary elections Dec. 27, after they were postponed in October due to violence and instability. Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza, who has so far struggled to keep peace, will not be a candidate.

“Disarmament is needed, but the country doesn’t have the means to disarm. So it must count on foreign or external help to act.”

In his comments to journalists, Kozondo remarked that the greatest challenge the church faces is “the deplorable situation of the country,” as well as the grave lack of security.

“There are many armed people, and (the government forces) still haven’t been able to disarm them,” he said, adding that “armed people with bad intentions can’t be something stable in terms of peace.”

“Disarmament is needed, but the country doesn’t have the means to disarm. So it must count on foreign or external help to act,” he said.

Though the country has seen coups throughout its history, the priest explained that this one is different due the fact it is fueled by arms from foreigners, and because Christians are being targeted. With a population of just over 1 million, roughly 36 percent are Catholic and 44 percent are Protestants, with the remaining 20 percent divided evenly among Muslims and local religions.

Related: Refugees and Their Religion

Kozondo said the rebels launched their attacks in part due to the ethnic exclusivity of the former government, as the country has always had ethnic divisions, and politicians usually represent certain ones.

However, when the various Muslim rebel groups banded together in 2012, foreign mercenaries, many from Chad and Sudan, helped in seizing weapons. Therefore, many of the fighters are foreigners who don’t speak the local Sango language.

“They don’t do it from a Christian push, something that comes in the name of the Christian faith.”

This detail, compounded with the fact that attacks targeted cities that weren’t strategically useful in conquering the country – as well as innocent civilians, state structures and symbols representing the nation’s patrimony – made the people wonder their intentions were for “something more, not only a desire to conquer the power,” the priest said.

A second characteristic that has made this conflict unusual compared to those of the past is that amid the various rebellions, it was obvious attacks were “directed toward Christians, against churches and religious structures, against the social Christian structures.”

The systematic violence toward Christians and the destruction of church properties is what fueled the current anti-Muslim sentiments, he said, because what people saw is that “it wasn’t just a rebellion that sought to conquer the country, but also sought to destroy everything that was Christian.”

Related: Christians Abandoned by America

Before the conflict erupted in 2012, relations with Islam had been relatively peaceful, Kozondo said, explaining that though they are a minority, Muslims in CAR have always been well-integrated and economically powerful because of their savvy in negotiating different affairs.

Kozondo said that another challenge is to re-establish the authority of the state, because it has lost control of the situation since the radicals began their offensive, leading ordinary citizens to take up arms.

Once citizens saw that the country’s army was ineffective against the rebels, they formed a resistance group, known as anti-balaka, because there was “no one to defend the population.”

The population feels that they don’t have any protection, “so they organize on their own to defend themselves,” the priest observed. However, he clarified what he referred to as a media farce depicting the “anti-balaka” resistance group as radical Christians who have taken up arms against the Muslims.

Related: What Now for These Christians?

Though the group is depicted as being exclusively Christian, Kozondo said he believes this image was “created by the media to imprint in the mind of the people.”

He told CNA that while there are certainly Christians, Catholics and Protestants included, who have taken up arms, “They don’t do it in the name of Christianity.”

“They don’t do it with means that come from the Church or something organized by the Church. They don’t do it from a Christian push, something that comes in the name of the Christian faith, this no. It’s not a Christian group that goes around in a sullen way against Muslims.”

Fighting now includes the element of revenge-killings, the priest said, explaining that in the capital, Bangui, there is a Muslim quarter entirely closed off to Christians that is particularly dangerous. Inside, there is “a strong presence of jihadists and extremists” who have killed either non-Muslims or moderate Muslims seeking to enter and offer assistance to those inside, as well as to help those who want to leave get out.

Pope Francis himself is scheduled to visit the quarter Nov. 30, his last day in Africa, for a meeting with CAR’s Muslim community at the central Mosque of Koudoukou. Though many have advised against the decision, as of now it’s still on the pope’s slate.

Additionally, the pope is also scheduled to visit a refugee camp that houses 1,000-2,000 people the same day he lands in Bangui, Sunday, after meeting with the country’s authorities and interim president.

During a media briefing last week, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Francis is visiting CAR precisely “to show that he’s close to the people who suffer. So that’s why it’s his first stop after meeting the authorities.”

After visiting the refugee camp, the pope is slated to meet with the different evangelical communities in CAR at the FATEB Headquarters (Evangelical Faculty of Theology of Bangui).

The head of the Vatican’s security forces, Domenico Giani, is in CAR for a final assessment of the situation ahead of the pope’s arrival.

This article originally appeared in Catholic News Agency.