I am back
from 2 months in Central
African Republic (République Centrafricain
in French). It is a country, as its name
implies, in the center of the African continent, about the same size and France and Belgium combined.
There is an
internal conflict going on there which pits Christians against Muslims, but the
causes of this conflict are much deeper than religion, as is usually the case.
Central
African Republic (CAR) suffers from a chronic lack of effective
government. The country gained its
independence from France
in 1960. The last person who effectively
ran the country was the vicious dictator Bokassa, who reigned from 1966 through
1979. Since his reign of terror, the
government has been nearly non-existent. The plight of this country gains little
attention from the outside world, because in has little or no economic interest
– its mineral deposits (diamonds, gold, uranium, etc) are largely unexploited. Agricultural is important, but those products
are mainly consumed locally.
Another
problem for CAR derives from its central location. It is surrounded by countries which also have
internal conflicts (Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda,
South Sudan, Chad,
etc). Rebel forces in these countries
often flee into CAR when things get hot, taking advantage of the weak
government and ineffective national armed forces to use the place as a hiding
ground.
The current
conflict started with a coup by Michel DJOTODIA in March 2013. He is the leader of a collation of old rebel
groups under the name of Séléka. This
group, which includes many foreign mercenaries, became the defacto military
force in the country and reeked havoc on the population. CAR is 80% Christian, and the Séléka forces
are primarily Muslims. In September
DJOTIDIA announced that the Séléka ad been dissolved, but most of the militias
refused to disband. Local Christian
militias formed, known as anti-balaka (anti-machete or anti-sword), taking
revenge on the Muslim population, whether or not they are associated with the
Séléka. This is the conflict with which
we are dealing, and it is indeed a very bloody conflict.
MSF
(Doctors Without Borders) has been present in CAR for many years to help
alleviate the suffering of the population due to the aforementioned lack of
government, which includes an inadequate health system. And as a result of the current conflict, all 5
operational sections of the organization are there, as are many other non-governmental
organizations. The budget of all MSF
operations combined in the CAR for this year is 40 million euros. That matches
the total government budget for health care in the country. Although the primary emphasis is on treating
victims of the armed conflict, we are also distributing water, food and
non-food items to internal refugees, and providing primary health care in community
health centers.
I arrived
in the capital of Bangui
on 7 January, 1 month after the first big conflict in that city. A surgical team was already in place to treat
trauma patients from the fighting. We
set up an emergency coordination team, along side the regular program
coordination, to manage the new projects associated with the conflict:
- The emergency room / trauma surgical center in the Bangui Community Hospital
- A health clinic in a Muslim area of Bangui which was quickly becoming enclaved
- A team to explore the needs in terms of health care and displaced population needs (food, shelter, water) in the north-western side of the county
My job in
this emergency coordination, as usual, was to manage the finances and human
resources for the set-up. The teams
evolved with the project. We have all worked very hard, and we are very proud
of the work we have done to help the population suffering from a neglected
conflict in this neglected country. I
know I have worked this hard in my life before, and maybe even harder, but I am
no longer 40, or even 50 years old now. I left Bangui
on Tuesday evening 4 March, after 2 months in CAR. It was an all-night flight, with debriefings
the next day in Paris, and returning to my home
in Lyon on Wednesday evening. I promptly fell into bed and did not move from
it for 36 hours. Now I feel refreshed.
I will stay
in Lyon for 3 weeks, until 25 March. Then I will be off again, probably working
this time with South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia,
or with Congolese refugees in Uganda.
In any case, this year has started out
as one in which the whole world is crazy, with conflicts all over the globe. I have a job for life.
