The United Nations is warning that despite the resignation of the strongman president the Central African Republic could turn into genocide, as bloodshed and vengeance attacks continue unabated.  At least seven people were killed overnight.

According to UN Humanitarian Operations Director John Ging, the violence “has all the elements that we have seen elsewhere in places like Rwanda, Bosnia.  The elements are there for a genocide, there is no question about that. Atrocities are being committed on an ongoing basis, (and) fear is consuming the minds of an entire population, wherever you might go.”

There were cheers from the majority Christian community when President Michel Djotodia stepped down, less than a year after he led Muslim militias in a successful coup to become the CAR’s first Muslim leader.  But it didn’t stop the revenge attacks that began late last year in which the Christian formed their own armed and went after the militias that caused so much trouble.

Panicked Muslim residents were fleeing, headed northwards towards unfamiliar countries that have Muslim majorities.

“We’re being massacred here.  I’ve suffered too much.  I’m going,” said Sadou Gambo, a widow with six children and no relatives in her destination, Chad.

Nearly a million have been displaced by months of fighting, some of them fleeing over the borders to escape murder, rape, and pillaging.  Some 100,000 people from the capital Bangui are crammed into an overstuffed tent city near the airport, barely protected by 1,600 French troops working alongside African Union peacekeepers.