In the Central African Republic town of Bossangoa, Muslims and Christians used to live together, in relative harmony. Now they’ve fled for fear of their lives to segregated camps.<br /><br /> Religious tensions remain high. The former French colony has slipped into chaos since mainly Muslim rebels seized power in March, leading to tit-for-tat sectarian violence with the Christian militia that sprang up in response.<br /><br /> Forty thousand mostly Christian refugees live in a makeshift camp set up by the city’s Cathedral. <br /><br /> The Christian militiamen, armed with clubs, machetes and hunting rifles, fight to oust the Muslim president from power. The militia are known as the anti-balaka, which means anti-machete in the local Sango language. <br /><br /> A few hundred metres from the Christian camp, 7,000 displaced Muslim refugees live in a camp set up on the site of a school.<br /><br /> One female refugee describes what happened to bring her to the camp: “They have weapons. I have seen that for myself. They came from the church, and they broke everything. They stole everything from my house,” she said.<br /><br /> French forces are working to disarm Muslim and Christian fighters, but the Christian militia hideouts have made them harder to find.
