Violence hits CAR in front of the Pope's visit

Bangui – Gunmen in the capital of the Central African Republic and slain someone set fire to dozens of homes in a cycle of violence which could further delay the elections and prevent a visit this month by François.
According to witnesses, hundreds of people fled their homes in Bangui on Monday after the weekend attack by men of the Muslim majority area PK-5 in which more than a dozen people were wounded by gunfire.
It was not immediately clear who the target and the attackers were, but violence is part of a pattern in which at least 90 people have been killed since late September – after a Muslim man was found murdered.
The majority Christian country plunged into turmoil when rebels Seleka most Muslims, took power in a coup in 2013, prompting revenge killings by Christian militia known as anti-Balaka, and repeated episodes bleeding since.
The last attack appeared to be retaliation for an attack by the crowd on the PK-5 on Thursday in which four people were killed.
The Pope is scheduled to visit in Bangui November 28 to 29 and go to a mosque in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods, but has hinted in a speech Sunday that violence could lead him to cancel the trip.
Families in the Fatima neighborhood caught bedding and a few possessions and headed to camps for displaced people or staying with families in the south of the city, where the priests were mobilized to welcome them, witnesses said.

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