In Central African Republic, gunfire rang out in the capital Bangui today as Christian fighters attacked Muslim neighborhoods. The country has faced a spiraling sectarian crisis since Muslim rebels ousted the Christian-led government in March. Amnesty International has warned both sides are committing war crimes.

Christian Mukosa, CAR researcher for Amnesty International: “This is a situation where you have neighbors killing each other. And you have people who knew each other for a long, long time are killing and using machetes to not make more noise when killing. So we came across a lot of issues of extrajudicial executions, mutilation of bodies. In fact, people are not only killing; they’re killing and mutilating bodies.”

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power was in Central African Republic Thursday to meet with the country’s leaders and condemn the killings.

Samantha Power: “Obviously, the Central African Republic does not have in place right now, or has not yet pursued, the kinds of investigations and the kind of accountability that is needed, but we stressed that those responsible for atrocities must be held accountable. That is a very important element of preventing future violence and cycles of violence.”