Tens of thousands homeless for nine months in northwest

Some of the tens of thousands of people who had been living in the bush in northwest Central African Republic (CAR) without proper shelter since fighting flared up in January are now trickling back to villages and towns, yet many more are still fearful of returning.

"I'm remaining in the bush like many others," Jacqueline Betoubam said on Friday at the paediatric hospital in the town of Paoua, where much of the fighting occurred.

She had come to the hospital, the only functioning medical facility in the town, with her malnourished son.

Betoubam said she was living in the bush, 28 km south of Paoua and five or six kilometres from her village, because it was safer there and her home had been burned down during fighting between the army and armed groups that are not clearly identified.

"We lost everything, including all our money," she said.

At least 50,000 people in the northwest provinces of Ouham and Ouham-Pendé who have fled into the bush are in urgent need of help, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in July. At least 40,000 more fled to neighbouring Chad, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and at least 20,000 are in nearby Cameroon.

Officials were not willing to say how many people had returned to their homes. A local health worker in one village south of Paoua said about half the population had returned so far while 25 percent would come in for a few hours then return to their sanctuaries in the bush.

The market area at Paoua

The dearth of food, shelter and medical supplies is common to both the bush and towns and villages, according to Stephanie Callard, of Médecins Sans Frontières, who heads the paediatric hospital in Paoua.

"Ninety-five percent of children we treat are suffering from malaria and many also have diarrhoea, worms, respiratory infections and skin diseases," she said.

A clergyman in the area, who did not wish to be identified, said despite the apparent calm in recent months, those people who had returned home "live like prisoners". He said, "They cannot move in and out of the area without paying off security forces."

They also do not go out to their farms for fear of being attacked by armed bandits, he added.

Those who stay in the bush do so because they feel safer and they can farm. The clergyman said the army was afraid of patrolling outside the towns, despite support from the regional military force of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States.

President François Bozize is blaming the man he ousted from power, Ange-Félix Patasse, for instigating the rebellion. However Patasse's supporters have said the rebellion was fomented by Bozize's former fighters, who claim they have not been sufficiently compensated for supporting the current president.

While the cause of the conflict remains uncertain, the effect on the population is all too clear. "We are looking after 80 children affected by malnutrition every month," Callard said. "Among them, we usually have 15 who show signs of severe malnutrition."

Countrywide, 30 percent of all children are facing chronic malnutrition and 4 percent have severe malnutrition, according to OCHA, though it could not provide a breakdown of the figures on malnutrition for the northwest.

Locals say their standard of living is deteriorating, with less meat and dairy products available because the M’bororo pastoralists in the area have fled with their cattle across the border to Chad or Cameroon. The pastoralists normally sell their dairy produces to buy crops from local farmers. Therefore, the farmers are losing income.

A robbery in progress on the road between Paoua and Beboura

A butcher in Paoua, Maurice Koipa, said the town appeared to have returned to normal but it was "cosmetic". He said, "Until there is security then economic activities will not return to normal."

Armed groups have been targeting the few relief organisations working in the area, making it difficult for them to help people in the bush. On Friday, armed men stopped a jeep used by the Italian NGO Coopi. The driver was forced to pay them 13,000 CFA (US $26).

Gaston Kofiane, who runs a health clinic in the village of Talli on the road south from Paoua, fled into the bush in January but has now returned. However, he said, it was difficult to do much.

"I am running a small hospital without a single tablet," he said.

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