Highlight
As violence escalates in Bangui, local and international humanitarian agencies have been forced to stop providing life-saving services to thousands of Central Africans.
Armed groups started targeting humanitarian agencies’ homes and offices, and expatriate staff has taken refuge in secured buildings in the city.
Among them are 12 people from International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ (IFRC) Central Africa delegation who are sheltering together, morale remains high and work continues despite the challenges.
Summary
Since the violence began in Central African Republic on 26 September, the Red Cross has been the only humanitarian agency able to move inside the city, providing life-saving first aid in the streets, transporting the severely wounded to health facilities, and collecting the bodies of those killed in the fighting.
However, as the violence swells, even the Red Cross and its network of volunteers is being prevented from reaching all areas. People inside the streets are facing the worsening humanitarian crisis and bodies are left to rot on the streets.
The imminent civil crisis has forced the interim President Catherine Samba-Panza to postpone the country’s elections which were scheduled for October 18.
There deadly fighting between rival Christians and Muslim militia has spread from the capital Bangui to villages and is characterized by street-level, door-to-door fighting in the city’s residential neighborhoods.
In only six days, the escalating violence has forced 27,000 people to flee their homes in Bangui, adding to the 365,000 Central Africans already internally displaced by the three-year-old conflict in the country.
