12 july - 23 july 2014

BANGUICentral African Republic

The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country of Central Africa and one amongst the poorest in the world. Since it gained its independence half a century ago, the country has suf-fered a chronic political instability, hampering the development of the nation and its institutions.

In March 2013, the Seleka, a coalition of armed groups with a great majority of Muslim combatants, seized Bangui, the capital, and removed President Bozizé from office. The numerous abuses committed by the Seleka fighters in the following months pro-gressively transformed hostilities into an intercomunal conflict between religious communities of non-Muslims (Christians and Animists) and Muslims.

In response to violence, several self-defence groups emerged in different areas of the city. They are called Anti-balakas. Attacks against Muslim civilians and retaliations against Christians dra-matically increased. International NGOs, France and the United Nations issued warnings on the risks of genocide.

In December 2013, the Anti-balakas militia, majoritarily consti-tuted with Christians, launched an assault on Bangui. The res-ponse from the Seleka fighters will turn into a bloody repression, resulting in a thousand of fatalities and hundreds of thousands displaced.

The United Nations Security Council hence authorized on De-cember 5th 2013 the sending of peacekeepers from the MISCA, the African-led International Support Mission to the Central Afri-can Republic, with support from the French military deployment called « operation Sangaris » in Bangui.

As of today, 8 months later, there are still 100,000 displaced persons in Bangui located in 40 sites. 500,000 spread across the

country. And 400,000 refugees in the neighbouring countries.

The capital city has changed beyond recognition on the social aspect. Entire neighbourhoods have been completely looted and emptied, notably from their Muslim populations who represented a significant part of inhabitants in some areas of the city. Com-munities have gathered according to their religion, around the church, or the mosque. The last Muslims in Bangui have sought shelter in the neighbourhood of PK5 around the central mosque, one of the last religious building left for this community.

The persistent insecurity in Bangui and the loss of all their goods do not allow the displaced persons to return to their homes for now.

-M’POKO (AIRPORT) CITY-The M’poko airport site provides protection and shelter to approximately 40,000 persons having fled from their neighbourhoods in December 2013, devastated by the outbreak of violence between Seleka and Anti-balakas. 8 months later, humanitarian needs are still alarming and displaced populations are not yet to go home.

Life styles and habits have now changed. People try to make a living out of makeshift small businesses. Charging the battery of a telephone for 50F, cultivating a small piece of land to get food, selling kindling for cooking purposes, medicines, chewing gums. There are churches, a bar, a marketplace ; the community life has been restored, a small town has emerged in the shades of aircraft ruins scattered all over the site.

Inside the camp, problems of access to food seem to be the main preoc-cupation of these travelers stuck at the airport, followed by water, edu-cation for children and last but not least : security. Without a national reconciliation and the disarmament of armed groups, people do not feel safe enough to return to their homes.

FOOD ASSISTANCE NEEDED« Today, the real problem on the camp is food distribution », says Bertrand, coordinator of the M’poko site. He has lived there since December 2013 : « Since February 19th, agencies that used to make food distribu-tions have faced several problems and left the camp, since then there hasn’t been any distri-bution on the M’poko site. »

The latest food distributions, 6 months ago, led to a riot as a re-sult of corruption and fake vou-chers. The WFP hence made the decision to stop these activities.

On the marketplace that was created on the site, access to animal proteins remains diffi-cult because most of the people on the camp live on less than 1 dollar per day.

In Yé tisésé’s family, people live on low-budget, hoping for better days to come. M’poko market. Dried caterpillars and peppers are displayed on the ground for sale.

YE TISESE« My name is Mr. Isséké David, called Yé tisésé, which means ‘source of the earth’ », introduces himself Yé tisésé, a former police officer now retired.

Father of 12 children, he arrived with all his family in M’poko in De-cember 2013. He tells : « We heard bandits had entered the neighbourhood to do harm, we prefered to go and hide. Here in the aeroclub we are like refugees in our own country. We left our houses and our goods behind. The house was looted, only walls are left… if we were to go back right

now we do not know how we could accomodate children and grand-child-ren. »

He says he keeps himself informed on the negotiations going on in ano-ther African capital, hoping for the situation to change rapidly.

« We wait, days go by, and our morphology changes, we grow thinner, our corpulence has changed and we have lost weight… the State tells us to be patient, so we wait, but now we are deformed, we have no livelihoods ».

The camp’s inhabitants say they have confidence in the State, but they do not feel being listened to. People whisper that no food assistance is provided in or-der to avoid the displaced settling down in the area.

Yet, after 8 months spent on this site, people had to get organized to survive.

HANDICAP AS A DRIVING FORCEUnder each and every damaged shanty in the camp live 6 to 7 per-sons in average. Generally the father, the mother, and maybe 3 or 4 children. Many of them, in some cases all of them, have lost their activity : shopkeepers got looted, houses were vandalized, schools were closed. Several people hence turned to the land to grow a vege-table garden on the camp and fulfill their basic needs. Some areas on the airport’s camp have become large fields, allowing to support the living of a number of displaced persons.

SIMPLICE

Lingdi Simplice arrived in M’poko on December 5th 2013, « like eve-ryone else here » he says. Paralysed on the left side of his body as a result of polio, he tells his story :

« Arriving here was very complicated. Being a disabled person, it is very difficult for me to travel. It is my family, mainly my wife, who helped me and brought me here in the M’poko site.Before this, I was an English teacher. When machineguns started to blast out, I ran away with my family to stay here on this site.

Here, I tried to gather all disabled persons because we are always margi-nalised, knocked over, so this gave me the idea to establish an association, a committee, for disabled persons.

During distributions we would not receive a lot, we could not keep on like that, so we tried to make things ourselves, like this garden. »

Simplice does not want to stop there and already has established some plans for the future :

« We want to raise livestock, poultry, pigs, and thus try to continually im-prove the conditions of disabled persons.Then, cultivating the land aims for us to harvest and earn some things, for our own subistence first, but also to sell part of it and buy more things.

For now, we live with very scarce resources : we fight for our living.

We are deprived of almost everything on the site, and what we live on is what we sow and harvest in the garden. We have grown sweet and sour amaranth, spinach, gombo… everything that can be eaten within a month is what we give priority to. »

Vue du camp de M’poko

Behind the tarmac, nearby the cultivated fields, is a camp for armed Anti-balakas. On the M’poko site, weapons are physically for-bidden, still, they remain in everybody’s mind. All this population has seen their houses de-vastated and it will take them more than a few months to forget such a trauma.

KIDSand

GUNS

A lot of exactions have been committed on the site at the beginning, but thanks to the work of NGOs, the camp does not allow armed men inside anymore. The European Forces (EUFOR) and Central African po-lice’s patrols during the day have helped to restore a relative calm on the site.

People here ensure that « today, you can walk around in the site without any worries. Before, with 100,000 persons in the camp, it was not easy, but now the place is quiet. »

It is not easy however to know how many weapons are in cir-culation inside the camp, be-cause things are not how they appear at first sight.

The site’s coordinator provides more explanation on the situa-tion : « At the beginning, you could see men carrying machete, weapons and kalachnikovs around the site, but today you don’t see this anymore because their chiefs have sensitized them upon their arrival in the camp: their objective is not to reside on the camp, but behind the tarmac », a few hundreds of meters farther.

In between are wandering children and teenagers. According to the Ministry of Education, 45% of primary schools in the country remain closed. It will soon be a year that these children have not been sent to school. They are around 8,000 to wander about in the camp.

Inside M’poko you will see children playing with riffles, just like the real ones, but made of wood. Reluctant wit-nesses and actors of the war, the impact that the conflict has on today’s child-ren could come out in a few years, and repeat the current cycle of violence.

Bertrand gives a concrete evidence of this problem : « I have a one-year and eight-month little child, whenever he catches a stone, he says « grenade » and throws it at me… what is the future of this child ? There is a tremendous psy-chosocial work to do with these children, otherwise I’m telling you, the future of Central Africa is mortgaged. »

« Whenever he catches a stone, he says ‘‘grenade’’ and throws it at me »

PRINCEIn the community hospital, the young boy named Prince is a civilian victim of the conflict.On May 2nd, he got accidental-ly shot in the leg and he is now recovering.

ANTOINETTEAntoinette Bolobo, 42 years old, is a mother of 10. She tells her story :

« Here, many people have suffered from malaria, diarrhea, but the care and treatments provided in the hospitals are not enough. There are little children, babies, who have anemia.

I arrived here on December 5th. Before living here I used to work in the health centre, I am a nurse. But I don’t have any occupation anymore. I cannot go home, there is too much insecurity in the 3rd and 5th districts.

They have destroyed everything, they have looted my house, four times repeate-dly. Me, a mother of 10, how can I return home ? My children don’t do anything, they are students but it has been 6 months now they haven’t studied because of insecurity problems.

We want our neighbourhood and our district to be disarmed, we want peace, we want our children to eat, play, walk, dance and have fun as they should.

Insecurity prevents us from going out. Our children are our pension, when we will be retired… but if our children, our boys, get killed, what will we do ? »

Later in the afternoon, a crowd is gathering around her hut. Her son just got killed somewhere in another area of the city.

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Many displaced persons on the M’poko site say they have fled from the war. Currently, their problem remains the disarmament of the different militia in order to bring security back.

Under the wings of wrecked aircrafts, people dream that one day they will be able to return to their homes, like Jacques.

JACQUESJacques Senzema lives with his wife and his 13 children on the site. His last daughter was born on November 4th 2013, barely a month before her parents came to the airport’s site.Jacques worked for 14 years as a laboratory technician in the chinese medical center. He was doing some consultations as well.Since the center closed, he has been unemployed and has had to face all sorts of difficulties : « Today I do not have a job, we struggle to get some food, we have health pro-blems, shelter problems to get a hut to protect children. So we stay here under the aircraft, and when it rains we stand up until it stops so we can lay down and get some sleep. »

« We want to go back home but for now, we wait and see what is going to happen. I would like to work again as a nurse in the neighbourhoods. »

RECONCILIATION

After all the atrocities that have been committed, it seems that reconciliation will need a lengthy inter-community me-diation process. To reach it, the persons guilty of commit-ting such abuses along the past months should be brought to justice and armed groups should lay their weapons down.

A former university teacher before becoming the M’poko camp’s coordinator, Bertrand speaks out for the displaced persons.

« What we want today is to sit down at the discussion table and reflect together on the better future that we want. There is a moment for making war, and a moment for making peace and reconciliation. All those who have their hands tied by this conflict the Central African Republic had to suffer, the Court of History shall prosecute them. »

In Bangui’s 3rd district, between the mosque, the market and the airport, 6,000 persons used to live in the PK5 neighbourhood. It used to be one of the biggest marketplace in the city and still is considered as one of the emblematic place where Muslims rub shoul-ders with Christians. Both of them used to live there in peace.

THE MUSLIM E N C L A V E

SOULEYMANE

A former shopkeeper in the neighbourhood, remembers the good times, not so long ago : « Before, we were together, we lived here in harmony, we would gather together, if a party was thrown our Christian friends would come and eat with us, we were united. But now is different, even when we say ‘Hi’ to each other, we say it with the lips but not from the heart ».

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Until December 5th 2013, when Anti-balakas, mainly Christians, launched an attack on the neighbourhood, forcing all Muslims to run away and take refuge in the central mosque area, or in neighbouring countries.

The conflict between the Christian Anti-balakas and the Muslim Seleka has spawned confusion amongst the different Central African communi-ties. Abuses committed on each side being perceived as barbarous acts in the name of a religion. All Christians have suddenly become Anti-balakas to Muslims, and all Muslims have become dangerous to all Christians. Some groups of young people have taken advantage of such an insecure situation to commit a number of exactions and lootings, assimilated as fake Anti-balakas.

Today only remains a community of approximately 2,000 Central Africans grouped in the Muslim enclave called : PK5.Since December 2013, these Muslims can no longer risk themselves out of this enclave, fearing for the life that could be taken away from them by an Anti-balaka or mob « justice ».

THE CENTRAL MOSQUEIn the shades of the mango-tree, men spend the day talking. At night, they roll out the tarpaulin that protects the limited goods and materials they have left, and sleep on mats on the ground. At the foot of the mosque, people look at time going by. It is the rainy season now. « When it rains, we wrap our luggage with the tarpaulin and go inside the mosque or under other tents to protect ourselves », explains Idriss. « It has been almost 7 months since we are here and we live in critical circumstances ».

There are humanitarian needs here as in any other IDP camp in Ban-gui, but the main concern is definitely security. So people keep listening to the radio. They wait. They hope that peace negotiations going on in another African capital city will resolve this situation and put an end to their being isolated.

Going out means putting one’s life at risk :« We cannot go out of this area, if a Muslim goes out and comes across Anti-balakas, he is a dead person. I have been here in the cen-tral mosque for 6 months, I cannot go anywhere because I am scared of being attacked by Anti-balakas, risking my own life », admits Idriss.

There has not been any attack on the camp recently, it is little by little going back to normal and the marketplace where Christians and Muslims used to go started to function again in June. Al-though gunshots can still be heard at night coming from a block away.

« I would like to rebuild my house and stay in Bangui. I would like it to be peaceful so me and my family could live as we used to. Here, hygiene conditions are not satisfying, we have only one toilet space for thousands of us living here. » And food : 12 kilos of rice and half a liter of oil per month per person, « it is extremely difficult, life is harsh », he says.

IDRISS

How can people go back to normal once social bonds have been broken ?

« We need a long-lasting peace and honorable solutions to be found, for the sake of all, of everyone. We have to disarm our hearts, our spirits, the church, the mosque, in our families, in our communities, so everyone works for peace », tells Aisha, who used to be a jurist in Bangui’s Court of First Instance.« I have my children, I would like to go back to work but I can’t, we cannot… everything has been destroyed ».

Without a national reconciliation, the displaced persons of each camp cannot go back home.

« WE HAVE TO DISARM OUR HEARTS »

Like an open-air prison, the PK5 neighbourhood is however well kept and secured by the MISCA (the International Support Mission to the Cen-tral African Republic peacekeeping force) and its Burundese soldiers. The contingent has established its troops in the school in front of the central mosque. Another school where children will not go to, but at least they provide security to the Muslims and patrol in the neighbourhood during the day.« If they were not here everything would be gone, there would not be anything left for the children to meet again and sit in class when the school year will start again. So it is a good thing the Misca decided to stay here and protect this school », tells Mathieu, an inhabitant in the neighbourhood.

Most of the abandoned houses have been looted. The neighbourhood of Ramandji is silent. Deserted. Nature is taking back its rights. Grass is growing on the roads that nobody uses anymore, plants grow as well, invading gardens. Man has disappeared. Only a few persons can be seen : those who come back to grab a few things left in their houses, and those who stayed. The elderly and children.

LE SILENCE

Mathieu is a former head of the Ramandji district. He is the president of APEC, the Alliance for the Protection of Children in Central Africa. His own kids have ran away to the nearby M’poko camp, but Mathieu chose to stay. Even if this means facing robbery attempts at night.

« There were 6,000 people in the neighbourhood before. All Christians have left and gone to the airport’s site, and Muslims to the central mosque’s area in PK5 », explains Mathieu.

He worries espcially about children who are still living in the neighbou-rhood and don’t go to school any-more. Whereas school started again in other areas of Bangui. The only one around is now occupied by the MISCA.

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On May 25th 2014, Anti-balakas killed three Muslims. On the same day, an Anti-balaka got killed. This resulted in an embargo on the neighbourhood, becoming an en-clave for Muslims and for the few Christians that had no choice but to stay. Unlike Muslims who are stuc-ked in the mosque, Christians can come and go freely.But there isn’t any car nor taxi co-ming in the neighbourhood.

To the few hundreds who stayed, no assis-tance is provided at all.« There is no NGO helping these persons in the neighbourhood, due to security issues mainly. The few who stayed cannot leave this place, too young or too old. People here sur-vive thanks to their gardens but life is very difficult » tells Mathieu.

There are between 100 and 150 children on this site, and 70 isolated old persons who could not run away.

There is no waste managment service anymore in Ramandji.

Doors of Ramandji. Everyone left. The only Muslims remaining in the neighboudhood have sought shelter in the central mosque.

But the majority of houses have been looted and stripped of what was in it.

This area is disturbingly quiet. Many terrible stories are carved into these walls, left without a roof.

MISCA forces ensure the protec-tion of civilians, and the secu-rity of the PK5 neighbourhood patroling during the day. But this is not enough se-cured to allow the ones who fled to come back ex-plains Mathieu.

« People are scared. Even inside the airport some have been struck by stray bullets. You never know where death is. »

Lakunega is a neighbourhood where both Muslims and Chris-tians used to be one community. Dany lives witth her children just across the street of the mosque.

End of May 2014, this area was still a refuge for some Muslims who had sought shelter inside the mosque. They were protec-ted by the community, their neighbours, Chris-tians.

LAKUENGA

DANYBut one evening, tensions between Selekas and An-ti-balakas set the whole area ablaze and groups called fake Anti-balakas came to loot the mosque, the last one outside the Muslim enclave.

Confronting threats, they had no choice but to yield: « They wanted to destroy houses too. They dug a hole inside the mosque, they were saying Muslims had hidden some weapons but fortuna-tely they did not find any weapon. That’s the way loo-tings started » recalls Dany.

Young people keep on coming to pick the last sheet metals in the mosque. The area is quiet now, but deserted from its Muslim half.

QUIET DAYS ALONGSIDE THE OUBANGUI

The South-East part of the Central Afri-can capital, in the 1st district, goes along-side the Oubangui. Between the pre-sidential palace and the French embassy, « la coquette » scatters souvenirs of the colonies along the Boulevard De Gaulle, la Colline and the river.

ALAIN THE FISHERMANFishermen are active day and night on the beach to try and catch what will hopefully allow their family to live for a day or two. Even though at the beginning of the rainy season, the fishery earnings are scarce.It is 4:00 PM. « Alain le Pêcheur » spent his whole day mending his nets. Tomorrow as of 6:00 AM he will be on his pirogue.

His fellow fishermen, being helped by other brave men without a boat, go on the river, in one section that has been reserved to them. The different fishermen’s associations have found some arrangements to share the coastlines and define, for each of them, their zone of hope. On the other side, only a few strokes of paddles away, is the Democratic Republic of Congo and its border town, Zongo. Pirogues travel back and forth, mainly for small business and wood transportation. In December last year, when occured the violent events between Seleka and Anti-bala-kas, Alain’s house was looted, and him and his family had to stay on the other side of the river during two months, before coming back. As many others, he lost everything, and it will take time for him to get back on his feet.

The fishermen roll out their fishing nets in circles nearby the river bank and leave them for about 15 minutes.Little by little as nets are taken out of the water, we hope, we watch closely for the smallest fish moving. A few pairs of hands are rushing into the nets. The sun still burns the skins at this hour of the day. The fisherman will share half of his gains between different hands. The most valiant will earn a little more, and child-ren will get a few Francs.

This is a family business. The father is a fisherman, his brother also, and his son is already learning the job. Women and girls will then sell the fruits of men’s labours on the marketplace.

Two fishes caught this time. Tomorrow will be a better day.

A bit further, on the waterfront, is the Oubangui hotel, now besieged by the MISCA, and the Rock Club’s terrasse.

Since 1906, people come to the Rock Club to relax. Its swim-ming pool and the view on the river make it a fancy place for expatriates living in Bangui. They come here to swim, play tennis or squash with their colleagues, or share a Moncaf, observing fishermen catching the last fishes for the day. Due to the volatile security situation, rest and relaxation places where expatriates are allowed to go are rare in Bangui.

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On the other side of the boulevard, a bouquet lies on the ground. A group of young people, between 12 and 18 years old, are making bouquets out of wild flowers. These « Flo-rists Gardeners » sell their flowers in front of the Rock Club, everyday starting 8:00 AM.

Today is Sunday, the club should welcome quite a lot of per-sons, potential customers for these young florists, for whom Sunday is the most favourable day.

ROCK CLUBFLOWERS

BONHEUR is 17 years old – his name means Happiness in French. He lives with his brother Sylvanus (18 years old), his little sister, his little brother and his mother. His father was killed in 2014 during the events with the Seleka. The school was closed, so they had to come up with some solutions to meet the needs of the family. To-gether with a group of friends, they learned how to make flower bou-quets in order to sell them in the street between the tennis courts and the Rock Club.

Since then, a few schools have re-opened their doors, but these young people have stayed here on the side of the road, trying to convince pas-sers-by to decorate their interior with their flowers.

Sunday - 6 AMBonheur and his group of friends head towards la Colline to pick fresh flowers in the nature. They climb trees, looking for all elements for them to proceed with their creations a few hours later. Sometimes they have to climb rather high, but mother nature is generous and provides them with all they need to make beautiful bouquets.

Then, they gather in front of the Rock Club to spread their harvest. Flowers are all over the ground. A ray of light shines through the leaves of the mango-tree, it is time to start composing the flowers bouquets.

8 AMBellies start gurgling. Bouquets are ready, waiting to be purchased. 2000F (3 euros) each. They will have to wait until 6 PM, when the Rock Club’s clientele will go back to their compounds.

10 AMA few meters farther, in a perpendicular street close to the restaurant l’Escale, have bloomed other bouquets. Another group of kids, armed of shovels, expose their creations. Their is every reason to believe, especially from their clothes, that they live on the street. They fill the holes that have been dug in the dirt-road by the heavy rains in order to get a few coins from the motorists. They now also sell flowers.

11 AMEating is a luxury that requires selling bouquets. So these young florists rush on the club’s morning customers, but this does not always means selling as they would hope so. The usual meal is composed of a manioc ball served with bushmeat and gravy, enough to satiate hunger. One flower bouquet sold provides a meal for 5 per-sons.

5 PMEnd of day. Only one bouquet has been sold today. Tomorrow morning again, Bonheur and Sylvanus will be in front of the Rock Club for a new day.

« Not just a simple restaurant, Bangui Plage is more of a getaway on the sea side : bare feet in the sand, the terrasse on the shores of the Ouban-gui river offers an endless view on the tranquille waters and the peaceful nature around. Around the central building with its bar and kitchen, a huge terrasse with tables and beach umbrellas offers a breathtaking view on Zongo and the congolese shores. The space has swings, a merry-go-round and seesaw for children… »

Touristic guide Le Petit Futé Ed. 2010

A GETAWAY ON THE RIVER SIDE

Since then, Bangui Plage has been looted and is deserted. It now accomodates a water collection and treatment station, water being pumped from the river. This plant will supply with drinkable water all displaced camps in the city that need it.The merry-go-round does not go round anymore, but the waters from the river run along the pipes before being treated and stocked in bladders.

Lately, Oxfam produces 315m3 of drinkable water per day for the different IDP camps not connec-ted to the national SODECA wa-ter network, supplying a benefi-ciary population of approximately 80,000 persons across Bangui.

The water is transported in trucks to different areas of the city where displaced persons have sought shelter, camps and hospitals. The water supply has enabled the population to maintain basic hy-giene practices for their cooking, their cleaning and sanitation. This also allows to reduce risks of water-borne diseases within the camps.

People who have ran away from their neighbourhoods since December 2013 have spontaneously found refuge in places that were deemed to be safe : the airport, and mainly around places of worship, churches and mosques.More than 100,000 inhabitants of Bangui have thus been displaced in camps across the city.

DISPLACED LIVES

EGLISE STE TRINITE

Dominique has left his neighbourhood with his children on December 5th 2013 just like the rest of his neighbours in the camp of Saint Trinity church. His house, and all others in his neighbourhood of the 3rd district in PK5, was looted. The current security conditions do not allow him to even think of returning to what is left of his home.

Meanwhile, he lives here, with the others. Large tarpaulins have been installed around the church, under which families squeeze together. Cardboards for the less fortunate, matresses for those who sorted things out better.

On the site, water is not a problem. Oxfam has come to supply the camp when the connections with the national network SODECA were cut. They have now been repaired and provide water again.

While many men go out during the day to look for a job, women take care of their children, they sell knick-knacks and stuffs, they cook for the rest of the family and others who have nothing to eat. Meat is expensive on the market, so the meal is composed of ma-nioc leaves with gravy and caterpillars. This menu is very popular in the camps.

With the rainy season comes all sorts of daily life hassles and worries for the camps’ inhabitants, as well as significant risks of propagation of wa-ter-borne diseases. Oxfam has come in May this year to provide families with kits including a matress, hygiene products and cooking instruments so that displaced communities who have lost everything could have the basic minimum while they wait to return to their houses.

« I want peace. I want us to go back to our homes, to our neighbourhoods, to our houses. We do not want to keep on living like that, can you see how we live ? People sleep on the ground, when it rains everyone has to stand up », acknowledges Dominique, powerless about his own fate.

DON BOSCOIn this rainy season, the mud splashes the steps of the displaced in the Don Bosco IDP camp. Like Jobert, about 5,000 people have sought refuge here.

Jobert and his family arrived on the 7th of December 2013, after the attacks on his neighbourhood : ‘To save our lives, my fa-mily and I moved into the camp here in Don Bosco », he explains.

«We are here and we manage to live. To survive we do small odd jobs in the fields, it is because of this that we are still alive. At this point, the most important thing we need is security.»

Jobert’s house, like those of the other re-sidents of his neighbourhood, has been looted. The roof, their clothes, their kitchen utensils, « all has been stolen, nothing is left.» For now, the conditions in the neighbou-rhood have not improved enough for his family to return. His wife and children fled to Bambari for protection. For the last four months he has not heard from them « may-be because of the network, or electricity », he explains.

JOBERT

Jobert shares a tent with 100 people from about 30 families. Child-ren who have lost their families joined Jobert’s family, as he took them under his protection. However, without a job he does not have enough to feed them. Some people make corn brooms to sell, recei-ving 100 to 200 F, with which they try to help the family to survive. Children have been assigned to bring water to the family from the facilities provided by Oxfam.

In Don Bosco, Oxfam has provided drinkable water for all of the 5,000 people in the camp. The Oxfam team has also supported Water, Sanitation and Hygiene activities for 15,000 IDPs throughout Bangui.

Camps and neighbou-rhoods in Bangui, inclu-ding those where Oxfam works, have been flooded and become extremely muddy with the rains, thus affecting people’s moving around inside the camps.

This is the case of Castors camp where, upon request from the inhabitants, Oxfam has launched some work to tamp down the muddy grounds, hiring some of the displaced persons living on the site. Communication and dia-logue between IDPs’ re-presentatives and commu-nity mobilisation officers is essential to ensure that Oxfam can continue doing the work, contributing to harmony on the camp.

CAMP CASTORS

An Oxfam’s community facilitator with IDPs in Castors camp.

In Castor, a site were 6,000 IDPs reside and where Oxfam intervenes, and as in many other camps, there is a high pressure on the sanitary infrastruc-tures in place. In order to minimize risks of illness, the mud has been pulled out of latrines in partnership with local NGOs. After desludging the latrines, new ones were built in order to increase the number of cabins available in the camp.

For these purposes, Oxfam hires hygienists every week to clean the latrines 4 times a day, to maintain handwashing water points clean and ensure water availability in the camp.

Saint Jacques’ site hosts more than 6,000 persons, majoritarily Christians. They, too, have come to find refuge in the church to keep their lives safe during the conflict.

EGLISE ST JACQUES

Since then, children have not been to school.

« On Saint Jacques’ site there are around 1,000 children who have not been to school since December 5th. They are here, wande-ring from dusk till dawn, living without fulfi-ling their rights and deprived of education which is one of their fundamental rights. », explains the site’s coordinator, Judicael Ro-driguez, a former customs inspector.

« School is essential to educate children and allow them to become the decision-makers of tomorrow. If they do not go to school, what will their future be ? We have to help those children, even if it just one week of pedagogical assistance, this will redynamize our children, their memory, it will be a good thing », he suggests.

Saint Trinity church. In order to get health care, people have to go to the community health care center. But some of them tell they cannot afford to go there.

DISCUSSING THE RETURNThe great majority of displaced persons wishes to go back to their houses and wants their children to be back at school. But their goodwill is limited by two major problems : constant inse-curity problems in Bangui, and the lack of financial resources to resettle.Dominique’s house has been looted and destroyed, including all his goods. So for now, himself and his family have no other choice but to stay in the camp.« We cannot return… imagine it was you. If for example you put yourself in our place, and your house is set on fire, all your goods are stolen, everything is looted, will you go back inside empty houses with no roofs ? No… ».

Security is the first condition to allow people to return to their neighbourhoods. But without any resources, it will be very difficult for many of them to rebuild their houses and return to a normal life. Like many of his neighbours, Dominique hopes that an organisation will give them some materials and utensils to resettle as well as sheet me-tals to build a proper roof. Meanwhile, he concludes : « We do not even have money to purchase coffins to bury the dead bodies. »

Photos © Vincent Tremeau / Oxfam

Contact :

Vincent TremeauMedia and communication leadOxfam GB in Mali

vtremeau@oxfam.org.ukvincent.tremeau@gmail.com