The killing of a prominent Muslim leader in the Central African Republic, along with clashes between rival rebel groups Friday, was stark reminder of the divisions and resentment remaining in a country trying to leave behind its anarchic past.

The violence ended a week that began with hope, following the appointment of Catherine Samba-Panza as the country’s interim, and first female president.

Samba-Panza, former mayor of the country’s capital Bangui, replaced rebel leader Michel Djotodia, who gained power in a March coup, but was forced to step aside earlier this month. She was widely seen as the best candidate for the position, her record untainted by the sectarian violence between Muslim Seleka militia and Christian fighters known as anti-balaka, which killed more than 1,000 over several days in December.

But this week brought reprisal attacks against Muslim residents, who are targeted in the anger against Seleka rebels. The Seleka militia suppressed the country’s majority Christian population with atrocious violence last year, prompting the creation of anti-balaka forces.

The Associated Press reported Friday that Dr. Joseph Kalite, who served as a former health minister and supported the Djotodia coup, died following a machete attack at the hands of Christian militiamen.

Amnesty International also issued a report Friday detailing the deaths of more than 50 Muslims northwest of Bangui. The victims including six children and five women, and Amnesty’s senior crisis adviser in Bangui blamed international peacekeeping forces for failing the Muslim community.

“Scores of people were left unprotected from vicious anti-balaka reprisals at a time when such attacks were entirely predictable,” said Joanne Mariner in a statement.

“The Christian community has suffered enormously over the past year. The desire for revenge is palpable.”

There are currently about 4,600 African peacekeepers in the country and an additional 1,600 from France. But the majority of troops are based in the capital, leaving the countryside vulnerable.

Toronto-based Stephen Cornish, executive director for Médecins Sans Frontières, was in Central African Republic as Djotodia stepped down and said he witnessed the relief among those who fled their homes for the protection of camps — the largest home to 100,000 at Bangui’s airport, which is guarded by French soldiers. And yet wariness remains.

“I spoke with some smaller groups of refugees, some of the women, who said, ‘You know what, we just need stability and assistance to go back and restart our lives,’ ” Cornish said in an interview from his Toronto office. “Talking to other groups, and you hear a real venom and hatred. You hear their own stories of suffering and lost family members and their own desire for vengeance.”

“It could get a lot worse before it gets better. When we’re seeing the type of violence that we are seeing with pillaging, looting and entire villages being burned, communities transverse themselves to camps because they’re too afraid to live at home several blocks away. The potential for this inter-communal violence to escalate where it is fully out of control is very real, very pressing and very possible.”

As Mariner said, none of this comes as a surprise to those who have followed the escalating violence.

“The international community moved much slower than events on the ground,” said International Crisis Group analyst Thibaud Lesueur, in an interview, lamenting that it took December’s killings and a warning from the United Nations that genocide loomed to garner attention.

“I think what changed was using the words of ‘genocide,’ ‘Muslims’ and ‘Christians’ that it finally got a reaction,” Lesueur said.

But the roots of the violence — and therefore the path to stability — are not rooted in religion. “I would call this a community divide,” said Lesueur. “None of the fighters are fighting in the name of God, so when we talk about a religious divide it’s just a way of defining yourself with one of the communities.”

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And these divided communities is the greatest challenge that faces Samba-Panza, as she forms an interim government, deals with the disarmament and reintegration of Seleka fighters now held in military camps, and prepares the country for an election.

As she was sworn in Thursday she urged: “I strongly call on the fighters to show patriotism in putting down their weapons. The ongoing disorder in the country will no longer be tolerated.”

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