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Photo Gallery The Central African Republic in Crisis

Torn apart by sectarian violence, the Central African Republic has been in crisis for the last year and is poised on the brink of civil war. With African and French troops struggling to keep the peace, interim President Catherine Samba-Panza faces an uphill task.
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The number of internally displaced people in the Central African Republic has more than doubled to 935,000 since December, according to the UN. Here, a Muslim boy takes refuge in a Koranic school in a Muslim neighborhood in the capital. Thousands of Muslims have fled for their lives from Bangui in recent months, forced from their homes by street battles and lynchings.

Foto: STRINGER/ REUTERS
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Violence between the Christian majority and Muslims is tearing the country apart.

Foto: STRINGER/ REUTERS
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Violence and sectarian fighting have abated since the arrival of French peacekeepers in December 2013, the head of the force said this week. General Francisco Soriano also said the French forces had seized nearly 1,000 firearms and 4,000 other weapons such as knives and rods in Bangui and across the country.

Foto: FRED DUFOUR/ AFP
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The violence is perpetrated mainly by either Christian anti-balaka militias or members of the rebel Muslim militia Séléka.

Foto: STRINGER/ REUTERS
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France currently has 1,600 soldiers operating alongside 6,000 African peacekeepers in its former colony.

Foto: FRED DUFOUR/ AFP
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As Reuters reported earlier this week, the country is sliding into what the UN has termed "ethnic-religious cleansing," and France could be facing a long fight with scant support from Western allies to stop the nation of 4.5 million people splitting in two.

Foto: FRED DUFOUR/ AFP
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Children take cover from gunfire in a neighborhood of Bangui, where French and African peacekeepers went house to house seizing weapons. The Boy Rabe neighborhood serves as a base of mostly Christian militias.

Foto: FRED DUFOUR/ AFP
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Iinterim President Catherine Samba-Panza is the first female leader of CAR, and only the third in Africa. But can she prevent the current conflict degenerating into genocide?

Foto: ISSOUF SANOGO/ AFP
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