A Muslim former minister has been hacked to death by machete-wielding Christian militiamen in the capital of the Central African Republic.<br /><br />Joseph Kalite was reportedly attacked as he stepped out of a taxi in Bangui.<br /><br />It came as clashes escalated a day after interim President Catherine Samba-Panza took office.<br /><br />The vice-president of a Muslim youth group, Mahmoud Hissene, said:<br />“He wasn’t even holding any function with the Seleka, he was excluded bythe Seleka. But as he was a Muslim official, they cowardly killed him <br />because of that.”<br /><br />Fighters from the Muslim rebel Seleka group soon retaliated forcing residents to run for cover and gunfire and explosions rang out across the Muslim Miskine area of the city.<br /><br />The landlocked former French colony descended into chaos last March when the Muslim rebel Seleka coalition marched into the capital, unleashing a wave of killing and looting. That sparked a wave of revenge attacks by Christian militia known as “anti-balaka”, or “anti-machete”<br /><br />More than 2,000 people have died in fighting since December. More than a million others have sought shelter in neighbouring countries.<br /><br />Both Christian and Muslim groups blame each other for the tit-for-tat violence.<br /><br />Around 1,600 French troops and an African Union contingent of 5,000 are part of a peacekeeping force. <br /><br />Central African Republic, one of Africa’s poorest countries despite its mineral wealth, appointed Bangui mayor Catherine Samba-Panza as interim national leader this week.<br /><br />Its former President Michel Djotodia, head of the Seleka coalition, stepped down on Jan. 10 under intense international pressure.
