http://youtu.be/qME8MyFfPn8

The central African Republic (CAR) parliament elected Catherine Samba-Panza  as the interim and first female president after the nation’s former leader, Michel Djotodia, resigned and sort asylum in Benin following weeks of religious violence between Christians and Muslims that killed thousands and displaced over a million people, a quarter of its population.

The immediate mayor of the country’s capital, Bangui, became the third female president in Africa, after Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Joyce Banda of Malawi.

Fighting between armed Muslim group Seleka and  Christian militia known as anti-balaka has escalated in recent weeks despite the presence of about 1,600 French troops and 5,000 African Union peacekeepers, Reuters reported.

After being sworn in on Thursday, the new CAR president named Andre Nzapayeke, a former official of the African Development Bank, as prime minister, Eye Witness News quoted the state radio saying on Saturday.