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Central African Republic - Religion

Various estimates of denominational strength, not always agreeing, have been given. A 1966 survey states that 68 percent of the population claims adherence to some form of Christianity, 4O percent of whom are nominally Protestant and 28 percent Roman Catholic. Of the remainder, five percent are said to be Moslem and 27 percent animist. According to the 2003 census, the population is 51 percent Protestant, 29 percent Roman Catholic, and 15 percent Muslim. The reliability of these figures may be open to question due to the extent of syncretisn, ncorporating aspects of indigenous beliefs into Christian and Islamic practice. However, Christian missionaries conduct many church-operated clinics and a few hospitals, most of which are located in the interior.

The US estimates that 50 percent of the population is Christian, and about 35 percent follows traditional African religions (also referred to as animists). There is also a significant Muslim population (15 percent). Most people in the C.A.R. believe in magic and spirits. Even Christians and Muslims maintain traditional beliefs or combine local practices with Christianity or Islam.

The population is 4.5 million, according to a 2011 World Bank estimate. According to the 2003 census, the population is 51 percent Protestant, 29 percent Roman Catholic, and 15 percent Muslim. Others incorporate aspects of indigenous beliefs into Christian and Islamic practice. Muslims continued to face consistent social discrimination and, in many cases, by 2012 were presumed to be sympathetic to rebel groups which were predominantly Muslim. Muslim-owned shops were frequently vandalized and, in some cases, vigilantes subjected Muslims to harassment, beating, and detention.

Islam first arrived in the country in the 16th century, whereas Christianity did not arrive until the 19th century, but the Muslims remained a minority, mainly in the north but also in part of the west. The religious picture of the CAR is diverse due to a great deal of missionary activity since the late nineteenth century. CAR’s Muslims have never been known for radical Islamism. What’s different about Muslims and Christians in the CAR is that they resemble each other in every way. They eat all the same things, drink all the same things, study in the same conditions, here and abroad and even physically it’s difficult to tell them apart.

The Muslim population is largely ignored by the government. The increasing hostility between Christians and Muslims dates to an army mutiny in 1996 which gave Muslims more political power, but also made them unpopular, particularly as many of the mutineers were of Chadian origin.

Religious conflict is a constant worry, considering the resentment that the majority Christian population feels towards the more wealthy Muslims. A migratory people by nature, the Fulani [who are Muslims] are considered wealthy due to their cattle holdings. The Hausa are doubly excluded as nomads and Muslims. There had long been conflicts between ethnic communities in CAR that till the land and others that herd cattle, and in the north the cattle herders have tended to be Muslim.

Witchcraft or sorcery is a crime punishable by execution, although no one accused of witchcraft received the death penalty recently. Most individuals convicted of sorcery received sentences of 1 to 5 years in prison; they can also be fined up to $1,500 (817,836 CFA francs). There were two prisons in Bangui: Ngaragba central prison for men and Bimbo central prison for women. Bimbo's population consisted primarily of pretrial detainees, most of them women accused of sorcery. Prison officials at Bimbo central prison for women said accused witches were detained for their own safety since village mobs sometimes killed suspected witches. In late 2005 Bangui prison officials estimated that 50 to 60 percent of female detainees were arrested in connection with charges of witchcraft. Human rights observers said the belief in witchcraft was so entrenched that attempts to abolish legal recognition of the crime would be very difficult; however, observers said they were continuing to push for fair trials of the accused.

Between January and August 2016, at least 110 persons were accused of witchcraft or quackery. Suspected individuals were often subject to arbitrary arrests and executions by members of armed groups, lynching by a mob, or expulsion from their communities.

By July 2016 the UN Human Rights Division continued to document violence committed for the most part by anti-balaka factions against persons accused of witchcraft, and had documented 63 cases since January 2016. Women are the main victims, except in Bangui, where they tend to be children. Acts of abuse have been recorded primarily in the capital and in towns in the west of the country, where the anti-balaka factions dominate, such as Bouar, Baoro and Bossangoa.

For example, on 18 September 2015, four women were killed in two villages in the Nana Grebizi prefecture, in the west of the country. The women were tortured, their ears cut off and they were forced to eat them. They were then buried alive after being accused of witchcraft.

Despite awareness-raising campaigns conducted by MINUSCA to counter these inhumane practices, the Independent Expert remains concerned about the extent of the problem which, under the guise of charges of witchcraft, actually involves premeditated acts by armed groups, more often than not to extort money from victims.

On each visit and in her reports the UN Independent Expert continues to alert the authorities to these practices. She reiterates her previous recommendations, which include the adoption of measures to launch an awareness-raising campaign to discourage such acts, training on the topic for law enforcement agencies, reviewing and amending existing legal instruments and identifying, arresting and putting on trial the perpetrators of the offences.

During a typical trial of someone accused of sorcery, traditional doctors were called to give their opinion of the suspect's ties to sorcery. "Truth herbs" were used to make a suspect "confess." Neighbors were called as witnesses and, because spells were believed to involve burying bits of clothing, sample cuttings of clothes were brought before the jury as evidence. Police and gendarmes conducted investigations into witchcraft, and according to the minister of justice, investigations into allegations of sorcery were difficult. Authorities said that police often arrested and detained persons accused of witchcraft or sorcery in order to protect them from societal violence against suspected witches or sorcerers in the communities of the accused. Mobs reportedly continued to kill and injure suspected sorcerers or witches.