Cardinal Mourns Imam

"It is a baobab that has fallen, because this man was a scholar, a man of wisdom, who spoke of unity and had respect and appreciation for his fellow men."

Bangui Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, 53, said this about the late Imam Omar Kobine Lamaya, President of the Higher Islamic Council of the Central African Republic, who died in Bangui on 28 November at the age of 66 (Fides.org, Decembr 1).

Baobab is an African tree used as a symbol for an esteemed person.

"We fought together to preserve unity, invited to respect and appreciate each other" - recalls the Cardinal saying that the late Imam was "my elder brother."

Picture: Dieudonné Nzapalainga © wikicommons, CC BY-SA, #newsFfkrukozwm