Central African Republic: Bocaranga – Attacks by bandits block civilian access to humanitarian assistance

Since mid-December of 2007, armed bandit groups known as "coupeurs de route" or "zaraguinas" have been mounting increasingly frequent, violent raids in the northerwestern region of the Central African Republic (CAR).  Whilst several thousand people remain displaced within the country, insecurity prevents many of them from receiving aid.

In February 2008 Médecins Sans Frontières launched a program in Bocaranga, a zone of heavy banditry in the province of Ouham-Pendé. The program provides care to children suffering from severe, acute malnutrition, a problem which has particularly affected the displaced people in Bocaranga and other towns in the region. One hundred children from Bocaranga town were admitted into the program during its first month of activity. In order to treat more children, MSF needs to access surrounding villages but the rise in bandit attacks has prevented our team from going to other towns in the area.

"Banditry has reached a scale unlike anything the already hard-hit people of this area have ever seen," says Delphine, head of mission in the CAR. "Small business owners, villagers and health workers, as well as humanitarian workers, are now being fired upon, beaten, and held up whenever they run into bandit ambushes. Transport companies are doubling their prices now when they have to carry cargo through this area, and truck drivers talk about charging 'wages of fear'. Nowadays we can't go outside Bocaranga to get to displaced people in the surrounding villages. There's too much danger of being attacked."

In the Bocaranga area thousands of people are fleeing attacks by bandits known as 'coupeurs de route'. Families take refuge in  larger villages, where residents are taking them in. But insecure conditions along the roads prevent aid from reaching these host villages. MSF teams cannot get through to treat children with malnutrition.

In February 2008 in the vicinity of Bocaranga, 8 of the Health Minister's staff members were held hostage for two weeks. Insecure conditions are driving a number of nurses to abandon villages, leaving their health posts unoccupied. Access to medical care for the local population is now severely limited.

Until now, the areas affected by heavy banditry have not been the priority for humanitarian relief. Nevertheless, the population living in these zones are facing many needs which are uncovered. It is vitally important that aid be delivered there without endangering the lives of people in need, or those of relief teams.

In Central African Republic aid has mostly targeted the areas affected by the fighting between rebel groups and the government, where the violence had been intense until the middle of 2007. These areas are also marked by a high insecurity. In March this year, the mother of a young patient was shot dead in an MSF ambulance in the northeast of the country. As a result MSF suspended all mobile activities outside the main towns in the region. An MSF volunteer, Elsa Serfass, was killed 9 months before, leading to a lengthy suspension of MSF activities

The 'coupeurs de route' have caused thousands of people to flee their homes and seek refuge within CAR or in neibouring countries. This adds to the number of people who have fled the conflict between government forces and rebel groups.

It is hard to estimate how many people have been displaced within the country as they are scattered by the hundreds in small towns—with as many as 2,000 people in some towns. The first and only camp of internally displaced was created during the month of October 2007. Over 2000 people currently live there.

In Chad, seven thousand people from Central African Republic arrived in january 2008. They are living in a refugee camp in the country's southern region. Cameroon hosts an estimated 45,000 Central African refugees. Some are living in the bush, where there is little food, water, or medical care available. They remain vulnerable to attack by bandits operating along and within the border.