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Last year, the election of President Faustin-Archange Touadera gave rise to hope for a real change in the Central African Republic (CAR). However, 12 months later, the new head of state has still not managed to extend its authority beyond the capital, Bangui, and the rest of the country remains plunged in chaos. Last month, Fatimatou Issa and his relatives were directly witnesses of this violence. Even if they had heard rumors of disturbances for several days, they did not have time to react when the ex-Seleka rebels arrived.
At first they thought they had come to fight other rebels. Then, seeing the bullets whistling all over Mbourchou, a village in the prefecture of Ouaka mainly inhabited by members of the Fulani ethnic group, they understood who they were targeting. « They arrived in vehicles and started shooting everywhere, » said Issa, 26. « My husband wanted to react to protect the community, but he was shot in the head. Mrs. Issa told us her story, standing in front of a fragile hut of straw and bamboo, sweating in the dusty heat. After the attack, she took refuge in the Bishop’s camp for displaced persons in Bambari, a small neighboring commercial town made of streets of red earth and houses of bricks and mud and located 400 kilometers from Bangui. « Many families have not received anything, » said community leader Mohammadou Saibou, who fled the same attack. « When we arrived, the Red Cross gave us food, but there was not enough for everyone. »
Aggravation of the crisis
One year after a democratic election that had given hope to the opening of a new era in CAR, the situation deteriorates. Armed groups control the vast majority of the country and civilians such as Ms. Issa and Mr. Saibou are the main victims. The resurgence of hostilities between rebel groups in the Ouaka and Upper Kotto prefectures in central and eastern DRC is now threatening Bambari, the second largest city in the CAR.
These clashes, as well as those in Kaga-Bandoro in the north and Ouham-Pendé in the north-west, have caused more than 411,000 people to leave their homes – a record since the onset of the crisis . In 2013, the conflict between Seleka, a coalition of rebel groups from the north, mostly Muslim, that overthrew former President François Bozizé in a coup, and the anti-balaka, a network of militias, Christian self-defense appeared to resist him. The dynamics are not the same today. After a de facto partition between the Christians in the south and the Muslims in the north, the hostilities between the two groups decreased. They were replaced by an explosion of fratricidal clashes between different Seleka factions, which were dissolved and expelled from Bangui in 2014. « Instead of the so-called Christian-Muslim logic that prevailed at the beginning of the conflict, we now see Muslim groups fighting against other Muslim groups. The community is divided along ethnic lines and the various groups compete for control over the territory, « said Richard Moncrieff, director of the Central Africa project of the International Crisis Group (ICG).
At first they thought they had come to fight other rebels. Then, seeing the bullets whistling all over Mbourchou, a village in the prefecture of Ouaka mainly inhabited by members of the Fulani ethnic group, they understood who they were targeting. « They arrived in vehicles and started shooting everywhere, » said Issa, 26. « My husband wanted to react to protect the community, but he was shot in the head. Mrs. Issa told us her story, standing in front of a fragile hut of straw and bamboo, sweating in the dusty heat. After the attack, she took refuge in the Bishop’s camp for displaced persons in Bambari, a small neighboring commercial town made of streets of red earth and houses of bricks and mud and located 400 kilometers from Bangui. « Many families have not received anything, » said community leader Mohammadou Saibou, who fled the same attack. « When we arrived, the Red Cross gave us food, but there was not enough for everyone. »
Aggravation of the crisis
One year after a democratic election that had given hope to the opening of a new era in CAR, the situation deteriorates. Armed groups control the vast majority of the country and civilians such as Ms. Issa and Mr. Saibou are the main victims. The resurgence of hostilities between rebel groups in the Ouaka and Upper Kotto prefectures in central and eastern DRC is now threatening Bambari, the second largest city in the CAR.
These clashes, as well as those in Kaga-Bandoro in the north and Ouham-Pendé in the north-west, have caused more than 411,000 people to leave their homes – a record since the onset of the crisis . In 2013, the conflict between Seleka, a coalition of rebel groups from the north, mostly Muslim, that overthrew former President François Bozizé in a coup, and the anti-balaka, a network of militias, Christian self-defense appeared to resist him. The dynamics are not the same today. After a de facto partition between the Christians in the south and the Muslims in the north, the hostilities between the two groups decreased. They were replaced by an explosion of fratricidal clashes between different Seleka factions, which were dissolved and expelled from Bangui in 2014. « Instead of the so-called Christian-Muslim logic that prevailed at the beginning of the conflict, we now see Muslim groups fighting against other Muslim groups. The community is divided along ethnic lines and the various groups compete for control over the territory, « said Richard Moncrieff, director of the Central Africa project of the International Crisis Group (ICG).