And the fight goes on....

Antibalaka à Bozoum

As the wind keeps on blowing (here they call it Harmattan), this country is still shaken by violence: a neighborhood against another, new rebels against old ones....We are trying our best to carry on, but nothing here is certain! We witness the civil war's folly taking over, all aorund here in Bozoum, in Bouar, Bocaranga, Ngaundaye....and dreams od peace and progress are moving away. But we mustn't despair. there are also few good news. Hyppolite,they kid form Bozoum, who is paralized waist-down is finally in Italy and had his main surgery on Wedesday and he's doing ok! so a big thanks is in order to all the medical staff, the surgeons and to Maurizio, Marta and Alessandra and all who contributed to make this dream possible!

Saturday, the 8th of February 2014

Again some shootings last night. This mornning we had a meeting with few authorities and some Antibalakas. We all said: ENOUGH! we managed to make the Selekas leave, all the Muslims are gone...what more do you want? We did chastised them quite a lot. we tried our best to make them understand it's about time they are to stop shooting, stealing, ransacking, hurting and killing. all this violence is only but preventing any progress whatsoever!

We demanded to stop shooting, no more weapons in the city, no more military uniforms....

since this morning it's ok. let's hope for the best! I also received a call from Chad. one of the Muslims from Bozoum who left with the convoy called in to let me know they arrived safe and sound and to thank me. I was happy to know they are fine. at 10.30 pm i also got the last news for today: Hyppolite is in Bologna airport!


Sunday, the 9th of February 2014

Few shootings during the day and rather quie day. I celebrated the Masses in purple, no Glorias and very little songs today. I said they were Penitential ones, to ask for forgiveness for our sins,  for not only letting the Muslims go but for especially making an happy event out of it, and for some to take advantage to hurt people and steal....

Monday, the 10th of February 2014

Meeting with those Antibalakas who occupied the Gendarmery. Eventually they moved out....only to occupy another building!

 

Tuesday and Wednesday, 11th and 12th of February 2014

Along with a doctor and an MSF representative we set off at 6 am towards Bocaranga, Ndim and Ngaudaye. We arrived at 4 pm after 210 km of disastrous roads. We came across many people holding homemade weapons, but we encountered no bars on the way (we found 3 on our way back home) We know there are Baba Laddé rebels in Bang, on the Cameron's borders and that Antibalakas are trying to hunt them down, unsuccesfully so far.  On that same Tuesday those rebels burned down villages between Bang and Ngaudaye, the risk for an attack is very high indeed. Especially because, despite our pleads, no army has come to protect the population. Not the French Sangaris, not Cameroonian MISCA.

We found villages almost deserted. In Ngaudaye there are few houses burned and the hospital is completely empty....there are no patients in there. No doctors, no medicines...

There are 4 Capuchins: two from CAR, one Italian, one Polish, two nuns and a laic nun. They're all still in shock, after the Selekas left their mark passing by on the 21st of January they have been threatened and robbed of everything one can imagine. Father Roland was also kidnapped for few hours. Any activity here is suspended (school, women's center, hospital)...and the future is very dark indeed.

There is no progress at all. Military forces as the MISCA are far from effective: when the Selekas was leaving the country to go back to Chad they were left unattended, anyone can plainly see the disaster they left behind, a trail of ransacks, fires, murders and robberies. On the other hand, few days afterward they did escort them, but towards Paua, and Kaga Bandoro, an area which the Selekas wanted to occupy in order to divide the country between themselves....

On our way back we stopped in Nzakoun, 14 km far from Ngaudaye. Here the Selekas killed 22 people, of which 14 women, in their own houses. they launched a small missile on the medical centre and now it's totally destroyed.

How long will we have to endure this folly?


Thursday the 13th of February 2014

Finally the MISCAs have arrived here in Bozoum. Meeting at 8 pm as usual, there's also a guy from a local force called FACA. Although they are regulated we have few doubts. he said he was here as a mission, but he had no ID nor mission papers.

We met the MISCAs and of course presented them with all our concerns on the situation in town, as the Antibalakas still carry weapons around.

I heard from Ngaudaye, MISCAs have arrived also in the morning and met the Antibalakas and other rebels from the APRD and hired them on to attack Bang, the border's village where Baba Ladde's are, fully armed. Once they got there the rebels fled to the forest and MISCAs left only Antibalakas over there....

In the end...the border is in the Antibalakas' hands, the rebels in the forest. The future? is completely in the dark. 

If MISCAs do not stay here, only a disaster is forseeable for the entire border area and its villages.

In bozoum, i met with public school staff and students at 4pm in order to see if it's possible to resume activities. They had to shut down last november, the 11th and then again on the 4th of December. the High school has been completely stripped to its bones (they stole doors, windows, boards and books). we asked everyone to look for the stolen material and see if we can resume school's activities on Monday.... We shall see!

Antibalaka à Bozoum... avec des toles volées
Antibalaka con armi e bagagli (lamiere rubate)

Antibalaka

Boutques pillées en décembre par la Seleka à Ngutere
Negozi saccheggiati dalla Seleka a Ngutere

Ngaundaye: Pères Capucins et Soeurs polonaises à la prière du matin
Ngaundaye: i padri cappuccini e le suore polacche alla preghiera del mattino

le poste de santé de Hanzoung détruit par les Seleka le 4 février
il dispensario di Hanzoung distrutto dalla Seleka il 4 febbraio

Le poste de santé de Hanzoung
il dispensario di Hanzoung

Figaro qua, Figaro là

These days I've been around and visited communities in two nearby villages

Bocaranga: 125 km from here. Here the Selekas attacked on Tuesday on the 21st of January. They shot some refugees at the catholic mission and they stole everything they could. Once they left the Antibalakas completed the opera and plundered shops and burned several Muslims houses.

Bossemptélé, 87 km on the south side has been taken by the Antibalakas. They killed several people, plundered all Muslims and Peuls' belongings. 

Here in Bozoum, comparing the rest of the country the situation is better: the Antibalakas do not enter the city armed and despite few shootings per day, it is quite calm. On Monday morning Public schools reopened and this is good news. On Wednesday we had some UN visitors and we tried to push things a bit for the reconstruction. Along came some journalists. Here is the article from "le figaro" written by Adrien Jaulmes

Bozoum, specialist reporter

In the sticks as in the small city of Bozoum, father Aurelio is a celebrity. They all wave hello when he's passing by, and his car gets immediately surrounded when he stops. In the whole region his silhouette is well known.

He's as thin as a rake, 52, although he looks ten years younger, wears a small Wooden cross, blue shirt, shorts, red laterite sandals, trimmed beard. The Italian missionary is everywhere welcomed as the man who brings hope, support and reassurance.

Isolated in this small city, 400 km far from Bangui, only weapons: one mobile, a rare energy and infallible courage and moral fiber. For months now,  Father Aurelio has led an almost impossible fight.

Refusing violence's inevitability, he's been trying to stop the terrible circle of abuses and reprisals here in the Car.

As he wrote, he tried to "bring some humanity and rationality in the folly of this civil war".

Father Aurelio however didn't manage to stop all violences and destruction. In several occasions he managed to bring reason and sometimes to avoid the worse. Since many months now he's been warning as for those growing dangers. Then once the infernal machine started, he tried to intervene and have both parties to lay down their weapons, often disarming people himself, talking directly to these assassins, trying his best to calm down spirits and avoid bloodshed.

Aurelio arrived here in Car beginning of the nineties and since 2003 has been responsible for the saint Michel parish in Bozoum. The arrival of the Selekas transformed his apostolic mission. They came on the 26th of March 2013, as modern medieval bandits and as in the rest of the country they have been fierce predators in the territory: they stole, extorted, robbed, raped, ransacked, tortured, killed. "They were on the loose" told Aurelio, always trying to stop them to abuse people. " I often went to see their colonel Yahya Massar, at least one could reason with him, however his authority wasn't  always followed by his men".

Father Aurelio himself  experienced their brutality. "Selekas had tortured a young man for ten days. They had him tied up for so long that he lost his hands. I went to see them and told them they had no right to torture people. They told me they were soldiers, they could do as they pleased. One of them stood up and slapped me. I left. Anyways they did seem to fear me a bit...perhaps it's because they are cowards and in the end they always took it on the weakest ones....if one stood against them one could bend them, at least in some ways."

On his blog, Father Aurelio often told tales of these horrible abuses and pointed out the problems occurring here, tried to alert the international public, media and governments of this drama which eats up This country. "We immediately realized that Selekas' brutality would have disastrous consequences and that created immediate hatred between communities" said Aurelio."since August, many exasperated people organized a local militias called Antibalaka" the end of the Selekas'regime began in December with groups of African and French forces. In Bozoum as in the rest of the country was a new wave of destruction and killings. This time the roles were swapped. The Antibalakas, militias of farmers armed of rifles and machetes were attacking. Muslims and Peuls, wether right or wrong associated to Selekas and hated for this, became victims of violence

They reached the  End of the line on the 10th of January when Djotodia was forced to resign and the face of the Selekas was removed out of Bangui. Then the Selekas'gangs  rampaged up as if they wanted to leave only ashes and destruction behind.

With their Peul and Muslim friends they destroyed villages around the city terrorizing the population.

"They acted out of stupidity and cruelty rather than a precise reason" says Father Aurelio. At least 1300 houses had been burned. The people were so scared they fled to the forest or to the saint Michel mission in Bozoum. Boyele, a village just on the Northside has been completely destroyed by fire.  People are sitting on the steps of their poor houses now just ruins and try to pick up any small objects that hasn't been burned.

Some try to place some form of roof onto the charred walls. Boyele's people are alive only because they run away. "The morning of the 10th of January we heard canon shots" said a villager "so we run into the forest. Selekas and Peuls arrived and set the houses on fire. We all saw smoke rising to the sky. Once we came back here in the afternoon, everything was destroyed. We lost it all: seeds, harvest, furniture, house."

So the Antibalakas play their vendetta on isolated Muslims, setting ambushes on the roads. Muslims all regroup in Bozoum, the last village remaining in the Selekas' power, although they are now surrounded.

"The situation was extremely delicate" says Aurelio "we had 3500 refugees at the mission, almost 1500 Peuls at the mosque and about 50 armed Selekas in town, potentially dangerous" 

So the Father tried to mediate."they called me from Chad asking to organize the Muslim civils' evacuation, I said I was ok to do it only if the whole Selekas would agree to leave with them. I spent two whole days trying to make them go. Up until the very last moment they tried to stay. I ended up threatening the MISCA (multinational African military force) saying I would leave my car on the Ouham bridge to obstaculate their passage and that they would have to shoot me to pass." That bridge was built back in 1943 by Italian was prisoners, at the time of the Equatorial French Africa and it is still the only crossing point towards north and the Chadian border, therefore their only escaping route. Selekas eventually agreed to leave the city. 

Only this made Aurelio the bull's eye of the whole Muslim community which was angry at him making their only protection reference going away.

"It was a moment of tension" he said "many Muslims surrounded my car and began to throw stones" he remarked with  nonchalance. His toyota's windscreen looks like a mosaic.

"Surprisingly a Muslim and a Seleka called 10/15 who was one of the nastiest ones protected me".

So everyone in Saint Michel believed I was killed. "Once I got back it was like an explosion of joy, people thought it was a sort of miracle, they placed robes in the street to greet me, it looked a bit as Palm Sunday"

As soon as the Selekas' danger was over, Father Aurelio faces the population's vendetta. They went crazy after so many months of terrors. Often victims become perfect executioners. It's time for the Muslims to pay off for the abuses. The Antibalakas are now the issue" says Aurelio "for many are just delinquents with no chief. They are just there to vandalize, steal and kill. Some kidnap Peul children and demand ransoms, the destroy their properties and scatter their herds. It's hard to convince people to tell Muslim, Peul and Selekas apart, because the Muslims didn't definitely break away from the Selekas and now they pay the price for it." Without justifying anyone it's clear that father Aurelio has no doubts on what's causing these violent attacks.

"For example, Peuls are victims of their own mistakes, they weren't able to see ahead on the future. They allied  with Selekas without thinking  of the consequences. I did try to advise them, that one day they would find themselves in an impossible situation. With no possibility for them to stay in the villages they would end up having to move into town with their herds....but they didn't listen..."

Under the MISCA protection, here with a small section from Camerun, 2500 Muslims are now forced to live and stay in a small area in Bozoum. They sit on their bags and the few things they were able to bring along after the ransacks, these people are waiting to be transferred out of the country. " our time in CAR is over" said Djodo Mahamatom, delegate of Bozoum's trades, collector of gold and diamonds. "We cannot remain here".

Whole Peul families, semi-nomad shepherds with pale skin are cooking on small fires. Women are wearing colorful robes, have braided hair, wear silver necklaces and some have beautiful tattoos on their face and arms

Everyday Father Aurelio brings them rice which has bought himself.

"Bad father brings good stuff" said the neighborhood's chief, Saleh Ibrahim 

"He's joking" said Aurelio "that's what they called me when they wanted to kill me. Among these people, there are those who tried to stone me few days ago" and waved hello to those sitting on their bags as if nothing had happened.

"He's our only help" said Ibrahim "we lost everything, our shops have been plundered, our live stocks stolen. We cannot leave this road. Only few meters past the Cameron soldiers and the Antibalakas want to kill us and kidnap our kids. We're ready to leave this country but we have no trucks to do it" said the old chief, 45 years lived in Bozoum, "I'm old but the young ones need a safer place to live their life"

Saleh Ibrahim is one of the victims rather than being an ally of the Selekas. "It was their arrival that torn Bozoum apart" he said "before them there was no violence between Muslims and Christians. They did us wrong"

In Father Aurelio's opinion, this civil war has nothing to do with religion. "I strongly believe we should all avoid this word: there are no Christian militias, nor Muslim militias. This is mainly a political, ethical and cultural problem. I don't believe Selekas had Islamization project in mind. They were Muslims, spoke Arab and relied upon the Arab community here, the traders and the   

Breeders. Now what's done is done, it will be very difficult to go back the way it was"

....next!

With the Selekas  gone,we are now facing the Antibalakas. Not one day goes by without discussions or meetings aiming only to reason and to cease violence, rubbery and intimidation. The State doesn't exist and it's very hard to keep everybody calm.

I'm ever so worried for the Muslims and Peuls, who had to leave their homes after the Antibalakas threatened them, they lost almost everything, because of the plunders. We try our best to suppor and help them with water and rice supplies.

The path to peace is long and hard. I often say it's like an unborn child, in need of many attention.

Tuesday, the 21st of January 2014

Finally a day with less issues. In the morning MISCA soldiers arrived, also Bozoum received a delegation of : ONU OCHA, PAM, Unicef, HCR, hopefully they'll be more proactive and decisive.

In the afternoon we heard that Selekas had left Bouar, only for the Northside....in Bocaranga it was a real disaster!

Here's the missionaries testimony:

Here in Bocaranga our mission is in the hands of the Selakas who just left Bouar to get to Chad. They're shooting all over the place with heavy weapons. Father Cipriano sent news that they shot as madmen, there are holes in the convent's walls. They stole cars, money, computers, phones, digital cameras.....they took everything away, it was terrible. A refugee woman has Ben killed, father Nestor has a wounded arm. They're saying this enemy columns are going to Ndim e Ngaoundaye. We just informed the monks there to watch out and take care. At this very moment the Selakas are shooting.

At 9 pm here in Bozoum more shooting. We were told only afterwards it was the MISCA trying to intimidate the Antibalakas

Wednesday and Thursday, the 22nd and 23rd of January 2014

All in all we heard twenty shots in 48 hours....could this be the beginning of tranquility?  We keep on having meetings with Antibalaks and people on these sensitive matters. I visited the Muslims and Peuls many times each day, many have lost everything after the rain sacks of the previous days. There's almost 2500 of them, they are scared and forced to live in harsh conditions indeed. I brought them water and 250 kg of rice the farmers sold me. The Pam rations had gone since a month. With OCHA and UNHCR we went to see what's left of the villages that Selekas had burned to the ground along the Bossangoa, Paua and Bouar routes. Antibalaks began to go back home to their villages and the people who fled to the forest are slowly coming back only to find their homes in ashes (so far we counted up to 1357 burned houses for a total of 6000 people)

 Few villages opened the schools. 

Here in Bozoum only our schools have students attending, I'm sure the others will follow eventually.

Friday, the 24th of January 2014

Quiet night. Few Antibalakas around demanding all Muslims to be gone....

Anyways, we kept on calming down people and tried to get some results. At 830 am I went to Bata, 7 km far, where there's an evangelic school. I brought 450 kg of rice. As they saw the car the women began to sing and dance out of sheer joy! 

We kept on meeting the Antibalaks inviting them to go home and maintain calm. With the Selekas gone there's no point in them staying here....moreover there's so much to be done now

la riapertura del mercato
la reprise du marché

Il bambino ha 7 mesi!!!
l'enfant a 7 mois!!!

la scuola... a Badali 2
l'école... à Badali 2

Caotic days

Sunday 12th of January 2014
We heard a Ciadian truck was on its way here to help Bozoum's refugees leave this place if they wanted to.
At 1 pm the Misca from Paua contacted me to go and talk to the Antibalakas and prevent them to attack. We took this opportunity also to make the Seleka leave after their disarm.
We hoped this would have calmed down the situation and avoid the Antibalakas to attack and go back home to their villages, despite the 1300 houses burned to the ground.
In Bossangoa, Captain Sangaris, agreed with us.At 3 pm, i went to visit Colonel Yahaya, wounded and in bed. He was very weak, and i explained him the situation, asked him to lay down their weapons and return them to Ciad via Bangui. A big discussion arised afterwards among some of his men. Finally we left, hoping that they will accept this option which could save them, many Muslim and Bozoum. If they won't take this chance, the Antibalakas will go on fighting. After this meeting we went to the Imam to update him on the situation.



Monday, the 13th of January 2014
Today a convoy was supposed to leave, escorted by MISCA  and the Chadian troupes. The agreement was to let them leave along with the Selekas, after been disarmed. At 1 pm I had a doubt and decided to go check if they were leaving even without Selekas, therefore leaving the city unprotected. I explained they couldn't leave the city in their hands, or hey would have struck a vendetta. We came back and tried to discuss. Manu Muslims were against the Seleka's departure, they threatened me and began throwing stones at my car, some arrived with weapons, some tried to defend and protect me. Finally they agreed to leave here the FOMAC and then to move the convoy. I preceded them, up to 20 km, paying the Antibalakas not to attack the convoy which included 50 trucks and cars, and 100 bikes. About 3 pm while i was still in town, as they shot in the air a couple of times to distance the crowd out of the way, rumour had it I had been killed... So, once i came back at 6.15 it was as if the Messiah came back on Earth. Screaming, clothing laid down in front of the car....you won't believe it. Finally i managed to quiet them down and thanked them. We prayed to Mary for those who just left us. both sides...

Tuesday, the 14th of January 2014
Quiet night. The first with non Selekas in Bozoum. They left on a convoy to Chad and in Paua they were disarmed by the Misca. 
Miscas patrolled during the night and left at 1 pm today leaving us unprotected. I hope there wont be troubles, they should be coming back tomorrow.
We left at 8.30 to Bossangoa. Last week several houses had been burned by the selekas. there were no Antibalakas here, we met up with some refugees in the Evangelic monks' church. we announced the Selekas had gone and they would be able to come home in a couple of days, and brought them 240 kg of rice. We set off on the Bangui road and met with two of the biggest Antibalaks groups, told them the news and set a date for tomorrow's meeting with Misca and mediation committee. At 4 pm I set off to Bocaranga - Paoua, met about a hundred Antbalaks. we talked for quite a while and we'll see each other again tomorrow first thing. The reason for all these meetings is to explain the Selekas departure, quiet them down and lay down their weapons.



Wednesday and Thursday  5th and 16th of January 2014
in the morning, after a mediation committee with the Northside Antibalakas, an OCHA mission (from the United Nation) and UNHCR (refugees committee) arrived along with BBC journalist. 
We all went in the afternoon on the Bangui road to meet with the Antibalakas. Jerome (the cathechist leased by the Selekas last week) also came. It was a long meeting, where we tried to send a peaceful message and to come back to a normal life. It's not easy.
In the evening I came across some Antibalakas carrying weapons on the Mission grounds, i took them away and asked not to come into towns with weapons anymore.
On Thursday morning at 6 am we celebrated Mass and the refugees began to go back home 
At 9 am on the Bossangoa road we met some Antibalakas and asked them to leave. We had only 11 Misca men, it wasn't easy.
In the afternoon we witnessed to plunders and violence from Antibalakas on the Muslim community and those who cooperated with the Selekas. We had an emergency meeting and decided to put a corfew from 8 pm to 5 am
After that I went and visited the Muslims who were scared to death and tried to calm them down. I walked home and on my way everyone i met i asked them to return their weapon.
I went into town after 8 pm, everything seemed a bit better. 

It is obvious we need a stronger military presence, Misca only left 11 men here and it's definitely not enough to begin safety protocols here or disarming (which is pressing matter)

Friday the 17th of January 2014
Confused day. In the morning everything seemed under control. Misca had been reinforced with a tank and a dozen men, they set up two checkpoints in town and seemed to be working. They began disarming Antibalaks. problem is they also took away their gri-gri (amulets) and this provoked them, the situation got worse. I went around like a headless chicken tried my best to counsel and support. at 10 am a big group was trying to get in. After a long discussion they seemed to back off. I went back to the Mission and they took the other roads to the city, found some weapons and began to attack the Miscas.
The action was quick, they were shooting in the air. 2.30 pm the situation seemed to calm down, we met at 3.30 and it seemed with good understanding. We expressed our worries about this situation, the tension, the plunders and violence caused ( at least 60 shops ransacked and 5 people wounded) We  listened to what they had to say, invited them to isolate the most violent element end the thieves, and tried to involve them in the safety procedures.
Tomorrow afternoon we'll try to set up a schedule, and to sign up conditions to stop violence and thefts. It won't be easy. At 9 pm tonight they called me because there had been a robbery despite the corfew. We found three armed young men. Managed to disarm them

If the first week of the year is as this one......

Monday and Tuesday, 6th and 7th of January 2014

Two days rather calm. I went downtown to say hi to the Imams and check out the northern sides where some Peuls burnt down few houses, after the suspect of them hosting some Antibalakas....Neighbourhoods were empty, strangely so. And we could witness to the results of Sunday's attacks, there were more than 20 houses burned to the ground. The Red Cross has now certified that on the 6th Deceber the clashes between Selekas and Antibalakas caused more than 100 dead. During the night a child died tonight.Malaria?

Wednesady 8th of January 2014

I was in need of 300 litres of petrol for the antenna's phone company Orange which a mortorbike brought here from Paua. In the afternoon, with this excuse, I went in the outskirts to meet with the Antibalaks, now growing in numbers (400 only here) and more nervous. I presented them with the closing of the schools issue and the lack of food for the city due to closing of markets. Once more the usual refrain: we only want Selekas out of here and all Muslims lay down all weapons....they say after  this they will cease fire and peacefully return to their villages... 

At 6.30 pm they began shooting again downtown, but we are not sure what was going on, we heard heavy weapons fired, then screams of joy (of the Muslim side). Afterwards they told us that a Selekas general came here from Bangui, to reinforce the Bozoum's contingent. there are 6 to 10 cars and new rebels. No comment!

Thursday the 9th of January 2014

No shootings during the night, in the morning I went to the hospital and while I was there, about 50 Peuls armed of machetes, bows and 3 or 4 kalachnikovs are crossing the hospital grounds.they were going to the Ouhgam, the river, where the Selekas were. they went there to help out chasing the Antibalakas

Despite the distance, We heard shootings and about midday a huge smoke came from that direction: probably Slekas burned down villages over there...at 5.30 pm the new Selekas arrived. There was a Police DGA and other Selekas from Ciad and Car. We had a meeting with them and few refugees attended as well.

They said they wanted people to go back home. We listened and then i took the floor. I told him since more than a month there are 3000 refugees at the Mission, they're very tired. They all want to go home, however, safety is needed. they're always threatened by the Selekas attacks and vendettas, they are afraid of Muslims who got weapons.
Also a man and a woman spoke, they were woried, scared and afraid of the Selekas. After few good opinions exchange we agreed to meet again the following day. Nevertheless we managed to talk. I even got a rise out of a Seleka, who was threatening some people to keep them at a distance. I told him to stop, because I do not allow certain behaviours. He leered at me the whole time. How many will stay? and, if they leave, will the Antibalakas come back? Finally: people don't trust them and one thing is for sure, until Selkas are here they won't go back home.


Friday 10th of January 2014

7.30 am: we were ready for the meeting. However, after 1 hour nobody showed up so we left.Eventually, at 9 the Selekas and the Imams arrived and we began the meeting. The police general, Adoum Rakis (!) spoke. He said they came for peace for everyone, that the government is really worried for Bozoum, that people should go home...bla,bla,bla.
People spoke, asking for guarantees, for people to be left alone, for Selekas to leave. they also asked why Peuls and Muslims have not been disarmed.

the "General" told they they had 2 names of civilian owing kalashnikovs (we have a list with more than 55 names.....)
I reminded that the main issue here are the Selekas, not the Antibalakas: if they leave, the Antibalakas will lay down their weapons and go back to farming. We also insisted on abuses that have been carried out. As a sign of cooperation the Selekas then released Ngaina Jerome, a catechist arrested on Wednesday, accused of being an Antibalaka, tortured almost to death....

Afterwards we discovered that few Selekas came in some of the villages as the  Fomac forces, confusing the people.

After the meeting we received news of president Michel Djotodjia and prime minister resigning. People were cautios, but there was a bit of joy in the air....
At 3 pm i went with the Red Cross up to the villages on the road to Paua and Bocaranga, where they fought yesterday, thankfully there were little deceased, however the Selekas vendetta reached and burned 440 houses out of 520 in the villages of Pont Ouham, Doussa, Camp 5 e Boyele.....what pain to see everything burned to the ground, and all the crop destroyed.

One singolar episode: in Boyele, a catechist locked his house with a padlock and a rosary: the Selekas left it untouched.

Tomorrow, if everything is ok, I will go check out the other villages on the way to Bangui.

One month as refugees

Since the 6th of December we have been living with 3000 refugees here. Time goes by and all normal activities have been transformed. Schools, food, life itself. People are trying to adapt, despite the moments of fear and tension, when shootings get too close. But we keep on going, thanks to to the congeniality and praying of most of them, thank you all!

Tuesday 31st December

In the morning shootings everywhere in the village, until 1pm. Selekastried to attack Antibalakas in Bata, a village on the 7th km on the road to Bossangoa. Antibalakas managed to flee, Selekas didn't find them so they took it out on the civilians. They took away mattresses, motorbikes killed 4 or 5 people (one woman amongst them).

On their way back in Bozoum, Selekas shot in the air and the Antibalakas nearby tried to attack. The main issue is that the Antibalaks went up to the hospital, threatened the staff, hoping to find injured Selekas and kill them. Selekas arrived and fought in the hospital area itself.

Three things are to be noted:

-the Selekas attacks on civilians will only worsen the Antibalakas attitude and will make them even more dangerous and less inclined towards the other Muslims and Pelus

-the colonel of the Selkas has be wounded. He was one of the rare Selekas who could think a little....

-hospital personnel won't stay there after these facts and won't be able to perform their duties. How will we manage?

Wednesday, 1st of January 2014

Today went ok. People here at the mission are wishing happy new year. We aren't too convinced though.... 

Thursday, 2nd of  January 2014

Few shootings at 10 am. Selekas killed a young man, he was accused of being a spy.

Friday and Saturday, 3rd and 4th of January 2014

Rather quiet days.... On Saturday afternoon I went along with a nurse of the Red Cross, a shepherd and a teacher to meet the Antibalaks. We arrived at the village, there were many of them. They seemed quite nervous, as one of their leaders has been killed on the 31/12. They insulted us a little bit.....this time we sat down...and presented them with our reasons. We drew the attention on their shooting inside the hospital area, threatening the personnel and searched the rooms. Their chief agreed with us, but some of them were too upset and began to threaten us ....we left after one hour. We hope next time they'll spare the hospital grounds.

Sunday the 5th of January 2014

Badly awaken at 6.30 am this morning. Lasted a couple of hour. Then some calm. How long will this last?