Pope Francis ends trip with visit to mosque in war-torn Bangui

The popemobile rolled into the center of this country’s civil war on Monday, crossing the dangerous border between Christian and Muslim neighborhoods as Pope Francis launched what may be his boldest diplomatic effort yet.

Hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers patrolled the streets, AK-47 assault rifles slung over their shoulders, while residents waved white flags symbolizing peace – and their hopes for an end to a two-year conflict that has killed more than 6,000 people, mostly along religious lines.

It was the first time in recent memory that a pope has plunged into the middle of an armed conflict. When Francis arrived at the city’s Koudoukou central mosque, a green building, a group of community leaders and schoolchildren were waiting for him. During a ceremony inside, Francis bowed toward the Muslim holy city of Mecca and sat on a plush white sofa next to the imam.

“Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters,” he said, his voice booming from an speaker to the crowd overflowing from the mosque. “We must therefore consider ourselves and conduct ourselves as such.”

For weeks, this very visit had been in doubt. Foreign troops in this former French colony had said they could not guarantee Francis’s safety. Violence continued until the morning the popemobile took off for PK-5, the Muslim enclave that has dwindled from 122,000 to 15,000 inhabitants in two years because of militia assaults. Many people questioned whether the pontiff’s visit would trigger a hostile response from a war-weary population.

But as roaring crowds lined the roads, standing in front of long-shuttered businesses and schools, it became clear that most people here saw the pope’s arrival as a game-changing moment – perhaps the beginning of a new peace process or renewed international attention.

“I still can’t believe he came,” said Gaspar Ndjawe, a local resident, who watched from across the street as the pope arrive in his open-air popemobile. “We need his message of hope. The people are tired of this life.”

There is no sadder symbol of this war’s grinding impact on the population than PK-5. It was once the commercial center of Bangui before it became the heart of a conflict between two bands of militias, the mostly Muslim Seleka, which in 2012 overthrew the country’s president, François Bozize, and the mostly Christian anti-Balaka, which rose up in opposition.

The conflict has devolved into a cycle of brutal killings and reprisals. Even though it began as a struggle over political power and access to state resources, many of its victims have been targeted simply for being Christian or Muslim. When Francis spoke at the mosque, he condemned that sectarian violence.

“Together, we must say no to hatred, to revenge and to violence, particularly that violence which is perpetrated in the name of a religion or of God himself,” he said.

For more than a year, a group of Christian and Muslim religious leaders had pleaded with Francis to visit Bangui, explaining that his presence might end the fighting after the failure of a U.N.-brokered peace process. The group traveled two times to the Vatican to make its case.

“He’s one of the most important religious leaders in the world, and I thought ‘Maybe he will help us reinforce the message of peace,’ ” said Omar Layama Kobine, a prominent imam who was part of the group.

But even as the streets of Bangui were filled with chants of peace as the pope boarded his plane home to Rome, there were reasons to be concerned. Next month, the country will hold elections, and the list of candidates now includes former president Bozize, who is wanted in the Central African Republic for war crimes and is currently sanctioned by the United Nations. Others candidates have ties to the armed groups still waging war.

Francis arrived in this war-ravaged capital Sunday, calling himself a “pilgrim of peace and an apostle of hope.” He landed on a runway next to a sprawling camp for the internally displaced and then drove along a dangerous stretch of road in a Toyota SUV with the windows down, waving to thousands of joyous people.

“The pope is here! The fighting is over!” people cheered in the streets as he drove past.

As Francis spoke Sunday, it became clear that he intended his visit as a way of kick-starting reconciliation efforts, and shining a light on a conflict that much of the world has ignored or forgotten.

“To all those who make unjust use of the weapons of this world, I make this appeal: Lay down these instruments of death!” Francis said during Mass at Bangui’s cathedral.

But his attempt at mediation here faces significant challenges. Even though Francis appears to have the attention of many of the country’s Christian and Muslim religious leaders, they exercise limited influence over the men who are fighting. Francis saw the intractability of the conflict up close Sunday. Shortly after he arrived, three young men were killed not far from the presidential palace, according to Vatican Insider, a prominent Italian Web site covering the Vatican.

Francis, moved by the news, asked whether he could visit the site of the incident, but his security advisers told him not to.

“I don’t think the groups are going to disarm just because the pope calls for it,” said Lewis Mudge, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. “But the pope’s visit brings international attention to the Central African Republic at a critical time.”

During his stay here, Francis spoke to government officials and a crowd of displaced families, stressing his hope that the country would reenergize its fledgling peace process. His visit here has been portrayed as the centerpiece of his first trip to Africa, a 5-day journey that also took him to Kenya and Uganda.

“It is my fervent wish that the various national consultations to be held in coming weeks will enable the country to embark serenely on a new chapter of its history,” he said Sunday at a meeting with government officials and diplomats.

Everywhere he went, his audience appeared receptive, expressing frustration with the conflict. But during his first day in a city that has been brutally segregated along religious lines, Francis saw almost only Christians.

“I have Muslim friends I haven’t seen for a year,” said Viviane Nzafeo, 42, who waited on the side of the road for the pope to drive by. “Before, it was not a religious war; it was a coup, but they’ve tried to make it about religion.”

For many Catholics here, the security threat was not an issue for someone as religious as Francis.

“The pope is a man of faith, so he doesn’t fear for security,” said the Rev. Sylvan Mapouka, a priest from Bambari in the center of the country, the scene of some of the conflict’s worst violence.

This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 9:13 PM with the headline "Pope Francis ends trip with visit to mosque in war-torn Bangui."