Violence in CAR forces thousands out of displacement camp
One of these clashes took place on the night of Friday June 4, between government forces and non-state armed groups in the vicinity of Elevage camp.
CAPE TOWN, June 18 (ANA) – More than 8,000 people have been expelled from their makeshift camp in Bambari, Central African Republic (CAR), following renewed fighting in the region, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on Thursday.
It said several thousand people have sought refuge in the compound of a mosque in Bambari town where they are living in very precarious conditions. The camp was burnt to the ground and an MSF-run health post in the camp was also destroyed.
MSF (Doctors Without Borders) is an international humanitarian medical organisation of French origin.
Elevage camp on the outskirts of Bambari, one of the main towns in CAR, was formed after the brutal conflict that ravaged CAR in 2013-14. People from mostly semi-nomadic communities sought refuge in Elevage camp after fleeing fighting in various areas.
In subsequent years, as periods of violence alternated with calmer phases, the site began to resemble a small town, with six mosques and hundreds of shops, tents and other structures set up by the 8,500 people who lived there.
“The site was made up of displaced people from the towns of Bria, Kaga-Bandoro, Ippy, Boali, Kabo and Bossangoa, who had fled the armed conflict,” says Mahmoud, a former resident of the camp since 2014.
Today, almost nothing remains of Elevage camp. All the tents were destroyed in the blaze, while most of the buildings, one-storey houses made of clay or concrete stand in ruins, MSF said.
This includes a small health post run by MSF where teams treated more than 200 children each week for malaria, the main killer disease in CAR, as well as for diarrhoea, pneumonia and other diseases.
The Central African country has experienced conflict since 2013 when predominantly Muslim rebels known as Seleka removed former President Francois Bozize from power, plunging the country into violence and instability when their brutal rule gave rise to the anti-Balaka Christian militias.
The violence escalated in December 2020 in the run-up to the presidential election as the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) rebels led by Bozize launched a series of attacks nationwide and took control of some towns.
The Bambari area has not been spared the tensions that have spread through large parts of the country. Offensives launched against the government by a new coalition of armed groups, and subsequent retaliation by government forces, have seen violent clashes become regular recurrences over recent months.
One of these clashes took place on the night of Friday June 4, between government forces and non-state armed groups in the vicinity of Elevage camp. The following day, soldiers entered the camp, according to accounts from former residents. On Sunday June 6, smoke could be seen coming from the direction of the camp.
It is urgent that more latrines are built, and that people have access to food and drinking water. These people have been subjected to continuous violence amid the conflict, according to MSF.
“They arrived at around 2pm on Saturday and ordered us to leave the site immediately,” Mahmoud says. “Guns were fired into the air, leading people to panic and run away in a hurry to vacate the place.”
“Locals from surrounding areas took advantage of the situation to loot everything we had,” Mahmoud says.
“They forcefully took our goats and stole our mattresses. Not long after, the site was burnt down.”
– African New Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay