The Central African Republic faces a difficult electoral process, which has been repudiated and hindered by armed groups. Access to many polling stations was impeded, and the ballot count – which, from the released data indicates the reelection of president Faustin-Archange Touadera- has been contested.
“The situation is still tense in the whole country. Widespread acts of violence are registered, even if still today they remain partially quantifiable, a large presence of armed men in several areas and a strong limitation of movement”, reports Andrew Njoke, INTERSOS Bangui mission head, from the capital of the Central Africa Republic.
According to the last estimates from the UNHCR, violence has pushed nearly 30,000 individuals to flee their homes in search of refuge in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Chad. To this number are added other tens of thousands of internally displaced persons. “It is still difficult to have an exact picture of the numbers and consequences of this phase of tension,” underlines Andrew Njoke. “Many areas are still difficult to reach due to military activities. We are surely witnessing another massive displacement. In a country that already counts over 600,000 internally displaced people, this means a further worsening of the already fragile humanitarian situation”.
INTERSOS own humanitarian initiatives in the area have suffered limitations, particularly in Bouzoum and Kabo, where several attacks have been registered, fortunately with no civilian casualties. Notwithstanding a peace pact signed in 2019, the Central African Republic still faces the repercussions of the violent conflict initiated in 2013 between the Muslin Seleka and Christian anti-Balaka armed groups. A conflict fueled by economic and social reasons that exacerbates the situation in a country with one of the lowest human development index scores (171st out of 177 countries counted).