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Central African Republic: Little peace to keep, but 4.7 million lives to live

Philip Kleinfeld/IRIN
Displaced Fulani at Elevache IDP camp in Bambar.

What's life like in a country the UN once dubbed "the unhappiest place on Earth"?

Philip Kleinfeld spent five weeks in the Central African Republic meeting peacekeepers, warlords, aid workers, and civilians whose lives intersect in a country rich in resources but impoverished by coups, mutinies, and civil war.

The peacekeeper, the soldier, the aid worker

Meet a few of the people who live and work in CAR

 

It's a little-covered war, one that occasionally pops up in international headlines but mostly upends lives out of view of much of the world. This three-part series picks up where the headlines leave off, assessing how UN peacekeeping operations are faring against a spiralling conflict, looking at the violence that hobbles humanitarian efforts, and talking with rape victims fending for themselves years after they were abused by the peacekeepers sent to protect them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearly 60 years of conflict and political turmoil have shaped life in CAR.

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