“The mine, owned by Canada’s Axmin (AXM.V), was overrun by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels more than year ago. It now forms part of an illicit economy driving sectarian conflict in one of Africa’s most unstable countries, despite the presence of thousands of French and African peacekeepers. Seleka fighters – many from neighboring Chad and Sudan – swept south to topple President Francois Bozize in March last year. Months of killing and looting provoked vicious reprisals by Christian militia, known as ‘anti-balaka’, that pushed the rebels back, splitting the landlocked country of 4.5 million people into a Muslim north and the Christian south. “
Source: Gold, diamonds feed Central African religious violence | Reuters
