:00:00. > :00:00.BBC's Tim Whewell joined them on one of their trips to promote peace. You
:00:00. > :00:09.may find some of the events described in this programme
:00:10. > :00:14.upsetting. It is a country locked into a cycle of revenge. The scene
:00:15. > :00:27.of mass ethnic and religious cleansing. Where only killers are in
:00:28. > :00:30.charge. TRANSLATION: In the Central African Republic, thousands have
:00:31. > :00:40.seen their relatives slaughtered in front of them. While the world takes
:00:41. > :00:47.little notice, but two brave men from opposite sides of the divide
:00:48. > :00:53.our best friends. They are off on a journey to dam the flood of hate.
:00:54. > :00:56.They are taught it is a war of religion, but we reject that. And I
:00:57. > :01:27.am going with them. In the Central African Republic
:01:28. > :01:31.today, it is not safe to be Muslim. Here, in this remote town in the
:01:32. > :01:35.west of the country, thousands of desperate people have been camped
:01:36. > :01:39.out for weeks at a small and muddy compound. They have lost their
:01:40. > :01:44.homes, and almost all of their possessions. Many have lost family
:01:45. > :01:54.and friends, murdered in cold blood, by a savage militia. All because of
:01:55. > :01:58.their faith. This man, now an orphan, watched the killers go from
:01:59. > :02:52.door to door, hunting for Muslims like him.
:02:53. > :02:55.Some have walked and run here for day after day through the forest
:02:56. > :03:33.from other towns and villages, pursued like animals by the militia.
:03:34. > :03:38.Now they want to leave this predominantly Christian country
:03:39. > :03:44.where they will largely accepted until a few months ago. `` where
:03:45. > :03:49.they were largely accepted. They will follow other Muslims who have
:03:50. > :03:52.already fled to neighbouring refugee camps in neighbouring states. This
:03:53. > :03:56.is a tragedy the outside world is barely aware of, ethnic and
:03:57. > :04:00.religious cleansing on a massive scale. These are the only remaining
:04:01. > :04:03.the Slims for hundreds of kilometres around. These gates and troops are
:04:04. > :04:09.all that is protecting them from likely death. `` Muslims. There are
:04:10. > :04:14.not enough foreign peacekeepers to make much of a difference. The
:04:15. > :04:21.Muslims main protector is the Catholic Church. It owns the
:04:22. > :04:25.compound. Kristian is sheltering Muslims may seem surprisingly in the
:04:26. > :04:34.midst of what looks at first sight like a religious conflict. ``
:04:35. > :04:39.Christians. In the capital, the country 's Archbishop remembers
:04:40. > :04:44.how, until recently, the two faiths mixed and intermarriage.
:04:45. > :04:47.TRANSLATION: When I was a child I went to school with Muslims, we
:04:48. > :04:59.played together, run around together, and we would give each
:05:00. > :05:02.other presents. Meanwhile, across the country, there are also tens of
:05:03. > :05:09.thousands of questions who fled attacks by Muslims. The Archbishop
:05:10. > :05:19.believes that the two communities can be reunited. So does the country
:05:20. > :05:27.'s chief Imam. Despite the conflict, he is one of the Archbishop 's
:05:28. > :05:34.closest friends. TRANSLATION: He is a simple man, calm, profound, that
:05:35. > :05:44.is his strength. We complement one another. Some call us the
:05:45. > :05:52.inseparable is, and others, the twins. The imams own story mirrors
:05:53. > :05:58.the countries tragedy. He is forced to live for his own safety as a
:05:59. > :06:03.guest of the Archbishop. He fled for his life from his own house, now
:06:04. > :06:10.looted and destroyed in the anti` Muslim violence, and yet himself, he
:06:11. > :06:14.is from it questions and in. `` a Christian family. I converted to
:06:15. > :06:21.Islam, I have Christian parents and Muslim relatives. Today there are no
:06:22. > :06:30.tribes in the Central African Republic who do not have at least
:06:31. > :06:32.one Muslim. Over the last year they have travelled ceaselessly
:06:33. > :06:41.together, using their friendship to show that this is not a religious
:06:42. > :06:45.conflict. Today, they are heading off on another journey far into the
:06:46. > :06:55.interior of the country, two regions still being cleansed of Muslims, to
:06:56. > :07:00.try to stop the genocide. It will be dangerous. We have a military escort
:07:01. > :07:08.to protect us. They have also got their faith. It is a difficult task,
:07:09. > :07:12.but nothing is impossible for God. We are men of God and we trust in
:07:13. > :07:15.him. That is why we are going to meet our brothers and sisters and
:07:16. > :07:40.tried to fight this. `` try. It will not be easy. The Central
:07:41. > :07:45.African Republic is one of the world 's poorest countries. Its French
:07:46. > :07:52.colonisers left some with a taste for Gatto, but there is little
:07:53. > :08:02.infrastructure here. Now, no real authority at all. Only the French
:08:03. > :08:06.African peacekeepers when a coup last year unleashed unprecedented
:08:07. > :08:10.violence, involving both Muslims, 15% of the population, and
:08:11. > :08:15.Christians, the overwhelming majority. Over the last two months,
:08:16. > :08:22.two murderous militias have rampaged down this road. Burning, looting,
:08:23. > :08:31.killing, often at random. First, the mainly Muslim Seliger, and then the
:08:32. > :08:37.mainly Christian group, their crimes are now destroying this country. The
:08:38. > :08:43.rebels are now defeated and confined to barracks in the capital. They are
:08:44. > :08:48.still fighting elsewhere. A year ago, they formed the country 's
:08:49. > :08:57.first Muslim left government `` led. To the marmot rose sorrow, some
:08:58. > :09:06.of them took part in the atrocities. TRANSLATION: 's a mercenary, not in
:09:07. > :09:15.his home ground, only gets riches to steal. He cannot go home without
:09:16. > :09:18.loot. `` Imam's. In this way, the mercenaries led an example which the
:09:19. > :09:26.local Muslims followed. These are some of the young men who have sent
:09:27. > :09:31.them packing. Today, of course, they are fooling around with one
:09:32. > :09:34.another. But, they have killed plenty of Muslims are real.
:09:35. > :10:15.Although, they call it offends against foreigners. `` defence.
:10:16. > :10:23.They are armed, not only with the weapons that you see, but with guns
:10:24. > :10:28.they are hiding. These charms, they believe, protect them from the
:10:29. > :10:34.Seleka. Today, the effect of fear and cannabis is adding to the
:10:35. > :11:19.swagger. Beneath the hard faces, they have suffered as well.
:11:20. > :11:26.You can tell the anti`balaka have been here. This is the third village
:11:27. > :11:30.we have passed on a fairly short stretch of road which has been
:11:31. > :11:33.almost completely burned. The countryside around here, for miles
:11:34. > :11:41.and miles, has been completely emptied of Muslims. TRANSLATION:
:11:42. > :11:46.Whenever we seem Muslims, they become like savage walls. But, they
:11:47. > :11:53.are walls goaded on by some of the country 's former question leaders.
:11:54. > :11:57.TRANSLATION: The people in power organised a campaign against
:11:58. > :12:07.Muslims. They spoke to the majority and said, look, they are enemies.
:12:08. > :12:18.Our enemies on the Slims. `` are Muslims. Those politicians are using
:12:19. > :12:23.3`2 try to regain power. `` anti`balaka in order to regain
:12:24. > :12:38.power. They gave them money, and told them to go for it. It is a war
:12:39. > :12:47.for religion. They need to change that. To stop the killing, you have
:12:48. > :12:51.to talk to the killers. Bravely, Imam is buttonholing a group of
:12:52. > :12:59.anti`balaka fighters by the side of the road. There is protection
:13:00. > :13:09.nearby. It is still a tense moment. They hate the Slims. `` Muslims. The
:13:10. > :13:14.Imam wants the young man to leave the militia. But, he will not. He
:13:15. > :13:18.does not want to lose the income from this home`made checkpoint that
:13:19. > :13:31.he and his friends put up, where all travellers are forced to pay.
:13:32. > :13:43.That is not what the Archbishop wanted to hear. They have left what
:13:44. > :13:48.they should be doing. Farming, hunting, fishing, just to stand by
:13:49. > :13:55.the road and extort money from people. We have to stop that. For
:13:56. > :14:01.now there is an icky wherever we go. At our next stop, thousands of
:14:02. > :14:06.Christians are sheltering around the cathedral. They have been here for
:14:07. > :14:17.months, since they fled the Seleka forces. The Imam and the Archbishop
:14:18. > :14:30.want them to go home, for normal life to resume. But that is
:14:31. > :14:39.impossible according to Pauline Kosem. Her life changed a few months
:14:40. > :15:10.ago for ever. She sent her son on an errand, and he never returned.
:15:11. > :15:19.That random killing left four children fatherless. The Archbishop
:15:20. > :15:28.loses her, she can't go home. `` blesses. She takes us to see why.
:15:29. > :15:45.The Seleka burnt it, and left nothing. It is the first time she
:15:46. > :16:05.has been back. Behind, what is left of her son 's house.
:16:06. > :16:21.It is too much for her grandson, Frankland. `` Franklin.
:16:22. > :16:28.In fact, he tells us later, he is going back to the anti`Balaka
:16:29. > :16:38.tomorrow to join other young Christian men from here. No wonder
:16:39. > :16:41.the Archbishop and the Imam, meeting the few remaining Muslims, are
:16:42. > :16:52.finding it hard to persuade them to stay. The Archbishop says that if
:16:53. > :16:57.they flee to Chad, as many already have, there will be no chance of
:16:58. > :17:09.rebuilding a mixed society. They do not trust him.
:17:10. > :17:19.It's another setback on the road towards reconciliation. TRANSLATION:
:17:20. > :17:24.We went to the Muslim community. It is as though we are being rejected.
:17:25. > :17:30.As though they were shutting themselves up. They are in the
:17:31. > :17:35.mindset where all they wanted to do was leave the country and no longer
:17:36. > :17:49.consider themselves central Africans. Back on the road, another
:17:50. > :18:08.long, rutted road, he regains his spirits. So does the Imam, and the
:18:09. > :18:12.leader of the country's Protestants, who has joined us. This
:18:13. > :18:17.car is a bubble of harmony, travelling through a landscape of
:18:18. > :18:23.hate. The example that these men set is remarkable. But even so, I am not
:18:24. > :18:47.sure how far people are convinced by their message. Does the Imam ever
:18:48. > :18:53.worry he will be the last Imam, perhaps the last Muslim, in this
:18:54. > :18:56.country? TRANSLATION: I don't think I would be the last Imam in Central
:18:57. > :19:09.African Republic. There are plenty of other Imams in the country. As
:19:10. > :19:15.proof, they tell me about a village of Muslim herders, who are protected
:19:16. > :19:19.I there Christian neighbours. They have been gradually spreading here
:19:20. > :19:23.for generations from the edge of the Sahara. This is one of the few
:19:24. > :19:32.places around here where the Koran is still being taught. But it turns
:19:33. > :19:35.out they now live in constant fear. Not so much protected, as held
:19:36. > :20:19.prisoner. Further on, we find cattle that used
:20:20. > :20:26.to belong to the pearl. These are their owners now. Anti`Balaka
:20:27. > :20:41.fighters. They have taken Muslim women as well.
:20:42. > :21:04.`` Peul. Meanwhile, the Archbishop and are Imam have moved on to the
:21:05. > :21:10.next town. Bozoum. As ever, they are locked in a meeting, talking and
:21:11. > :21:16.listening. But this is not a place sympathetic to Muslims. TRANSLATION:
:21:17. > :21:22.The consequences will be economic. A price of food will shoot up, that is
:21:23. > :21:27.because the majority of Muslims are either shopkeepers or cattle
:21:28. > :21:43.herders. There is already problems here. With meat, there is very
:21:44. > :21:47.little of it available. He is right. At the market, you are plenty of
:21:48. > :21:56.vegetables, grown by Christian farmers. `` there are plenty of
:21:57. > :22:09.vegetables, grown by Christian farmers. But the meat section is
:22:10. > :22:17.almost there. `` bare. This man is one of only two Muslim men left in
:22:18. > :22:22.Bozoum, where there were once thousands. He is allowed to stay
:22:23. > :22:27.because few others have his skill. Outside his home, anti`Balaka
:22:28. > :22:32.fighters watch his every move. He is too scared to talk openly about what
:22:33. > :23:02.has happened here. But he can't hide his misery.
:23:03. > :23:10.His wife will never forget the day when all the other Muslims left,
:23:11. > :23:42.following the retreating Seleka forces out of the country.
:23:43. > :23:52.The Archbishop and the Imam have reached the end of their journey.
:23:53. > :23:55.Their pleas for reconciliation have fallen hardly the Mac largely on
:23:56. > :24:07.stony ground, but they are not giving up. TRANSLATION: It is the
:24:08. > :24:10.old story of the man who said to his fiancee, I come to you and you
:24:11. > :24:17.refuse me, so I will keep coming back until you declare your love for
:24:18. > :24:22.me. TRANSLATION: The country is in great danger. We have to try and use
:24:23. > :24:24.all means possible to avoid the country ending up in war which is
:24:25. > :24:36.tribal, religious, ethnic, and regional. They are heading back to
:24:37. > :24:47.the capital and then abroad, to urge western leaders to send more
:24:48. > :24:56.peacekeepers before it is too late. But perhaps it already is. The
:24:57. > :25:02.thousand Muslims who were sheltering around this church are now gone.
:25:03. > :25:09.They have evacuated to neighbouring Canberra. In the western half of the
:25:10. > :25:24.country, there is hardly anyone left to save anything. `` Cameroon. Back
:25:25. > :25:28.in Bangui, I find the tail end of the Exodus. Some of the capital's
:25:29. > :25:36.last Muslims leaving the country in any vehicle they can find. Ethnic
:25:37. > :26:21.cleansing is almost complete. And still the world looks the other way.
:26:22. > :26:22.Hello there. A lot of sporting action happening this weekend. It is