At the end of May, heavily armed mutineers attacked the Bangui residence of the republic's president, Ange-Félix Patassé, and seized the national radio station. The capital was the scene of bitter fighting before the soldiers, led by ex-president General André Kolingba, fled.

An estimated 50,000 people died during the failed coup, which had a double origin: ethnic conflict and national pauperization.

Three days after the conflict began, Timothée Malendoma, president of the church, spoke on radio to draw the world's attention to what was happening in Bangui and to appeal for restraint. He asked people not to succumb to a settling of accounts which could plunge the country into uncontrollable violence. During the coup attempt, Malendoma's home was ransacked and looted.

Months later, Bangui is in a state of precarious calm. Many weapons circulate in the town and in the countryside. Living conditions in the bush and in small villages are difficult.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, there are still 25,000 refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazzaville, and Cameroon. The refugees are mainly from the Yakoma ethnic group - the group from which the mutineers came. Officials or high-ranking civil servants who fled refuse to return home because they fear for their lives.

The landlocked Central African Republic is rich in minerals: diamonds account for 60 percent of its export earnings. The former French colony of Ubangi-Shari became independent in 1960, but a post-colonial history of oppression and strife has left the country with poor infrastructure, limited transportation, a largely unskilled labour force, and a legacy of misguided economic policies. In 1993, after three decades of misrule - mostly by military governments - Ange-Felix Patassé was elected president and a civilian government installed. But the army has mutinied four times since, and the country continues to be almost ungovernable.

The international community has still not decided to give the financial aid which would make it possible to reduce the poverty of the people: the number of street children is increasing; civil servants have not been paid for many months; and an estimated one in every eight adults is affected by HIV/Aids.

The Protestant Church of Christ the King is one of several churches in the Central African Republic working for peace and national reconciliation. "In our sermons we appeal to a new life which reflects love and unity in Christ," says Oundagnon-Basso, "but our people do not yet have life in fullness."