BANGUI
By Hassan Isilow
Militants believed to be members of the Christian anti-balaka militia have gunned down leading Christian lawmaker Jean Emmanuel Ndjarawa at his home in Miskine, a suburb of capital Bangui.
"He was shot eight times by militants who came to his home on Sunday evening accusing him of having supported former interim president Michel Djotodia," a neighbor who witnessed the event told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisal.
The neighbor said he saw the militants enter Ndjarawa's home, and was able to identify them.
He believes Ndjarawa was killed because he belongs to Djotodia's tribe, the Gula, members of which had been active in the seleka coalition that installed Djotodia as interim president in March 2013 after ousting president Francois Bozize.
A Christian, Bozize had come to power in a 2003 coup.
The slain lawmaker had been known as an active campaigner against sectarian violence and outspoken critic of the murder of innocent Muslims by Christian militias.
Djotodia, a Muslim, stepped down in January under international pressure.
He was replaced by former Bangui mayor Catherine Samba-Panza, a Christian.
Efforts to obtain a comment from Parliament Speaker Alexandre Ferdinand N'Guendet were futile, as he and other MPs were in a closed assembly session.
In a separate incident on Sunday, militants – also believed to be anti-balaka militiamen – killed the brother of Arsene Sende, a former justice minister in the Djotodia government.
"The militant jumped into our gate on Sunday night and demanded to see the former minister," a relative of Sende's told AA on Monday.
"We told them he had travelled out of the country, but they shot his brother."
Anti-balaka militiamen have reportedly been hunting down former officials of the Djotodia government.
On January 24, Joseph Kalite, a former minister and a Muslim, was hacked to death by machete-wielding anti-balaka militants in Bangui.
Muslims have increasingly been targeted since Samba-Panza was sworn in as president.
Late Sunday, two Muslims were lynched by a mob of angry Christians in Bangui in the latest case of sectarian bloodletting.
Last week, no sooner had Samba-Panza left a ceremony to welcome back army deserters than hundreds of army personnel dragged a civilian from the crowd and lynched him on suspicion that he was a former seleka fighter.
Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director for Human Rights Watch who was present at the scene, told AA that the soldiers "set his body on fire, while everybody around was laughing and taking photos with their mobile phones."
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