Central African Republic: bishop welcomes election of new president

March 02, 2016

A Spanish missionary bishop whose diocese has been ravaged by attacks from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has welcomed the election of Faustin-Archange Touadéra as the Central African Republic’s president.

The nation had been governed by an acting president, Catherine Samba-Panza, for the previous two years; she succeeded an Islamist regime that seized power in 2013.

“At last we have a new president,” Bishop Juan-José Aguirre Muñoz of Bangassou told the Fides news agency. “Beyond the person who holds the office, what is important is that we have a new president that we hope will lead the country out of the abyss into which we sank three years ago.”

“The political situation gives us great hope now because we see the light at the end of the tunnel, but here in the Bangassou area we always live under the threat of the LRA, the guerrilla group of Ugandan origin that has raged for years, attacking the villages of the diocese,” Bishop Muñoz added.

 

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Further information:

• Bishop of Bangassou: "Hope for the election of a new President, but we continue to suffer the presence of the LRA" (Fides)
• Bishop reports terror attacks in Central African Republic, and 'nothing is said' (CWN, 2/10)