BRAZZAVILLE: Key players in the Central African conflict launched a fresh round of talks in Brazzaville on Monday to end more than a year of sectarian bloodshed in the direly poor nation.

But even as negotiators huddled in Congo, fresh violence erupted in the capital Bangui with the killing of a former Seleka rebel that sparked an immediate riposte.

The three-day forum for reconciliation and political dialogue, chaired by Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso, is aimed a resolving a crisis that has left thousands of civilians dead and driven more than a million people from their homes.

One of Africa’s poorest countries, CAR has been in crisis since the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in a March 2013 coup, with months of atrocities by rebels gone rogue sparking reprisal attacks by mostly Christian anti-balaka vigilantes.

The African Union-led peacekeeping force in CAR, MISCA, blamed the anti-balaka groups for the killing on Monday, saying their victim was on his way “to get breakfast” near the main hospital when he was killed.

Allies of the victim then stormed out of their nearby base camp, looting and robbing stores, firing off shots and taking a group of students captive.

“An indeterminate number of youth from the high school next to the hospital were also taken prisoner by the ex-Seleka,” a MISCA source who asked not to be named said.

A father of one of the youths who tried to follow his son was stabbed and taken to the hospital for treatment, he said, adding that the area “rang out with gunfire”.

MISCA troops and European-led forces took up positions to secure the hospital near the fighting.

Monday’s violence underscores the challenge facing peace negotiators in Congo, who are aiming to produce an accord by this Wednesday.

The agreement aims to end hostilities, disarm fighters and establish a framework for political transition, paving the way for a national reconciliation council to take place in Bangui in October. —AFP

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2014