World

Chaos In The Central African Republic (PHOTOS)

Bangui Journal

French and African Union troops headed to the troubled Central African Republic this week to quell mass atrocities and lynchings between rival Muslim and Christian mobs.

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Jerome Delay/AP
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In the Central African Republic's capital of Bangui, more than 20,000 people have been displaced by fighting between Muslim rebels and Christian militias. Many of them have fled to the Bangui airport, where refugees are facing a critical lack of food, shelter and toilets. (REUTERS/Emmanuel Braun)

Emmanuel Braun/Reuters
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Thousands of refugees flock to the Bangui airport amid violence in the capital on December 11, 2013. African Union troops and French soldiers have been sent into the lawless country to stop widespread sectarian bloodshed between Muslims and Christians. French officers claim that the majority of armed groups have been disarmed since international peacekeepers arrived in Bangui. (AFP PHOTO/ SIA KAMBOU)

Sia Kambou/AFP/Getty
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A young woman cradles her child in a school in Bangui's Muslim district. According to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, "mass violence" has been committed in the Central African Republic, raising the specter of another Rwanda. (FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty
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Internal refugees gather in Bangui's monastery, which has housed over 10,000 displaced people amid widespread chaos inside the Central African Republic. The UN Security Council has authorized the deployment of 1600 French troops and 6,000 African Union troops in an attempt to bring peace to the lawless state. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay/AP
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A child waits at the Mpoko international airport in Bangui as religious leaders sought a ceasefire between Muslim rebels and Christian militias in the capital. Over the past week, more than 400 people have died in the violence, according to international aid groups. (REUTERS/Emmanuel Braun)

Emmanuel Braun/Reuters
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Looters ransack an office in Bangui on December 12, 2013. According to the French aid group Doctors Without Borders, fighters carried out executions at local hospitals before French troops tried to secure the capital this week. (AFP PHOTO / IVAN LIEMAN)

Ivan Lieman/AFP/Getty
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Relatives mourn a man shot to death in Bangui, one of hundreds to have died in violent clashes between Muslim rebels and Christian militias in the Central African Republic. The American Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, condemned last week the "atrocities" that have been commited in the wartorn country. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay/AP
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Relatives of a slain man weep outside his home in the capital of Bangui on December 7, 2013. Hundreds of citizens have fled the Central African Republic into the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, which has also suffered from decades of systemic violence. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay/AP
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Muslim men with machetes question a Christian man as they check for weapons in a neighborhood of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay/AP
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French troops detain a suspected rebel leader in Bangui. Both Christian and Muslim mobs have reportedly engaged in lynching sprees as French and African Union forces descended on the capital of the Central African Republic last week. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Jerome Delay/AP
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A victim of the violence between Muslims and Christians lies abandoned on the street in the capital of Bangui. France's president arrived in the Central African Republic last week to support his country's troops, who have intervened in the former French colony in the hopes of preventing further mass killings. (FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty
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Residents of the PK16 district in the Central African Republic's capital of Bangui bury 16 coffins in a local Muslim cemetary. (FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty
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A man rests after burying 16 compatriots in Bangui on December 11, 2013. The UN has struggled with how to prevent further atrocities in the troubled Central African Republic. (FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty