"Resignation or apocalypse" read one sign at a demonstration in Bangui this morning. Protesters gathered in the capital of the Central African Republic to demand that transitional president Michel Djotodia step down for failing to prevent rampant attacks by both Christian and Muslim militias in the country that have displaced nearly a million people. After days of rumors, Djotodia resigned at a regional summit in Chad in advance of a summit attempting to restore peace in CAR. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly called for a UN peacekeeping mission to be sent to the beleaguered nation.
The "wildly unpredictable chaos" continues in South Sudan, as government forces press on with their assault on the city of Bentiu, forcing thousands of civilians to flee the city. Dramatic reports describe civilians mowed down with machine guns as they attempt to escape and gunmen setting fire to entire villages and looting crops and livestock. An analyst from the International Crisis Group now estimates the overall death toll from the country's fresh conflict could be as high as 10,000.
Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga and Imam Oumar Layama, leaders of Catholic and Muslim faiths in the Central African Republic, decided to move in together for safety in Bangui. Amid fears of a full-blown religious conflict, this sign of inter-faith solidarity may give some small hope of reconciliation.
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, charged in New York with fraud after paying her full-time nanny much less than stipulated on her visa application, will leave the US under immunity. The case has created a diplomatic storm between the United States and India, though many seemed to forget the rights of the domestic worker involved.
Shezanne Cassim, a young US filmmaker imprisoned for nine months in the United Arab Emirates after making a video spoof of Dubai youth culture, has been released and is back in the US, where he is highlighting some of the more bizarre details of his case and the UAE's justice system. According to Cassim, he went for months without being told what the charges against him actually were, and the judge in the case hadn't even watched the video.
