Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by fighting in the northwest of Central African Republic where conflict has been going on for the past 18 months. Many people
have been forced to flee their villages to seek refuge deep in the forest where conditions are dire – not enough food, little clean water, and little or no access to medical care.
This recent footage covers the extremely difficult conditions facing displaced people, as well as the distribution of farm tools and basic household equipment to around 100,000 people
in northwest and central C.A.R.
Central African Republic - ICRC steps up aid to tens of thousands of people displaced by conflict Date & location: July 2007,
northwest Central African Republic (CAR) Gazao, Boimanja and Bodoli villages and forest, Paoua
Duration: 10 mins
Camera: Jon Bjorgvinsson
Production: Jessica Barry, Virginie Louis, Jan PowellSource: ICRC – access all SHOTLIST - northwest Central African Republic (C.A.R.)
00:00 on the road to Boimanja: young girl preparing food travelling shots, roadside huts
00 09
from inside truck - CUs mud roads,
00 18 trucks on the road - various 00 27 burnt out village of Boaya: showing wrecked roofs - several shots
00 36 villagers walking in
fields
00 40 IV Gérard Kembi Nangindo talks over his shoulder about the conflict in the village ( French): “Our houses here are still close to the road.
The other day when the
rebels and FACA (Forces Armées Centrafricaines) clashed in the village over there, some of the bullets fell here during the shooting.
That was what pushed us to go further into the
bush.” 01 07 Bodoli: Gérard Kembi Nangindo in the bush
01 10 small boy in front of hut
01 13 Gérard Kembi Nangindo, with his baby daughter going into the hut
01
17 IV Gérard Kembi Nangindo, (French) “Here in the bush we live like animals.
Because we are in the bush, for example the water – we drink from the same source as the
animals and we have to look for food like they do in the bush.
And fruit that animals eat, we also eat it.” 01 46 old woman and children in front of hut
01 49 several shots
villagers
01 57 woman preparing bilibili, traditional alcoholic brew made of millet
02 10 IV Marie Indoko (local language Sango) displaced grandmother "Life is very hard here because
it's very difficult to get money to buy even the basics.
I cannot go to market today because I don't have money to buy anything." 02 32 CU baby
02 36 undernourished
children - several shots
02 50 traveling shots past abandoned houses
02 54 ICRC flag on vehicle
02 57 ICRC truck loaded with aid material passes through village 02 57 On the
road to Boimanja distribution point: ICRC land cruiser and truck passing ruined houses
03 03 ICRC truck gets bogged down in the mud
03 20 ICRC team trying to dig the truck out of the mud -
several shots 03 32 Boimanja village: Arrival of the truck at the distribution point
03 44 Unloading ICRC relief items from the truck -several shots
03 57 people waiting for the
distribution and listening for information – several shots
04 02 IV Karl Heinz Moder, ICRC delegate, (English) gives instructions to field officer "One thing is still important.
The fact that we are here today is to give assistance to the people, this doesn't signify that there is peace and security here.
It's humanitarian aid but it's still up to the chief and
the people to evaluate their security situation and for them to decide whether to stay in the town, in the bush or to come back to their village." 04 37 ICRC delegate Nathalie Ritter Marti counts
basins
04 49 IV Nathalie Ritter Marti (French) (Head ICRC Sub-delegation, Kaga Bandoro) "You find people here who only eat once a day.
You find people who find it extremely
difficult, if not impossible, to get access to health care, and who live on next to nothing.
Most of them live off the land, and each season, if they don’t have
a chance to plant and harvest, it makes life more and more difficult for them." 05 13 People waiting to get goods
05 16 Giving out material - blankets, bowls etc - various shots 05 40 People walking away from distribution point with goods - various shots 05 58 Gazao: Two villagers walking past ruined hut.
The woman is Hachille Monfere Zango who has
her baby on her back.
She fled her village, house was destroyed and husband killed.
06 07 Burnt house
06 12 Hachille Monfere Zango enters her burnt house with her baby
06
16 Interview Hachille Monfere Zango (local language, Sango) CU holding baby “It is very difficult for me to find enough to each, and what I need for myself and my children.
I have to work in the fields for other people in order to get enough to feed my family.” 06 29 ruined houses
06 32 Back view of people leaving again for the bush 06 38 Paoua
town: Blacksmith's forge
06 43 Blacksmiths working in the forge making hoes for ICRC distribution
06 48 ICRC delegate Michael Dürst sitting with foreman, Ibrahim Al Abid (right) around
a fire in the forge.
Apprentice Omar Anur works the bellows
06 04 CU of red hot hoe being hammered into shape
07 07 CU ICRC delegate Michael Dürst holding finished hoes
07 14 CUbellows07 21 ICRC landcruiser driving along narrow mud road with abandoned houses 07 27 Bodoli village: Wide shot people waiting for tools to be given out
07 33 Wide shot with ICRC delegate Michael
Dürst giving out hoes from the back of the landcruiser
07 57 Gérard Kembi receives hoes
08 00 Men walking through forest carrying hoes
08 17 Gérard Kembi Nangindo arrives at his
hut, gives tools to his wife
08 36 Weeding in the field using hoes, close up Gérard Kembi's wife
08 55 Boys playing simple string instruments - African music
09 20 Paoua
town: GVs people, crowd, market , child playing .
Many villagers from the countryside have also fled to take refuge in towns like Paoua in northwest CAR.
09 54
ENDS STORY
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by fighting in the northwest of Central African Republic (C.A.R.) where conflict has continued for the past 18 months
between the Central African Armed Forces, the Security Forces and rebels from the Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy, (Armée pour la restauration de la République et la
démocratie, APRD).
Since autumn 2006, the rebellion has spread from the northwest towards the centre of the country and the APRD are now active in areas around the towns of Kaga
Bandoro as well as in Paoua.
Estimates vary hugely as to the exact number of people displaced by the fighting.
Tens of thousands are known to have fled from villages
threatened with attack, or where fighting has taken place.
Many villages have been burned down and possessions, crops and livestock stolen.
The villagers fleeing the
conflict have mostly sought refuge deep in the forest, close to their fields.
Even though the security situation is now calmer, people from Bodoli – and other villages all along the
route to Paoua town - still do not feel safe enough to return home.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, (ICRC), is providing much needed help to displaced villagers.
Conditions in the makeshift forest shelters are dire.
People are living without enough food, often without clean water, and with practically no way to get medical help if they
fall sick.
According to 24 year old Gérard Kembi Nangindo, who fled from Bodoli village more than a year ago with his family of five children, “Here in the bush we
live like animals… we drink from the same source as the animals and we have to look for food like they do in the bush." The rainy season has started, turning forest roads into quagmires.
Getting relief trucks to the distribution sites is a major challenge.
On the way to reach hundreds of displaced families waiting for relief goods to be given out in
Boymandja on 9 July, Red Cross workers had to dig their lorry out of the mud.
The ICRC’s distribution programme for household items targets 100,000 people across northwest and
central C.A.R.
Help is given to the displaced families living in the bush as well as to those living with relatives or being sheltered by host families.
People whose
houses have been burnt down get kitchen utensils and tarpaulins as well as household items, including sleeping mats, blankets, soap and large aluminium basins.
In the village of
Boymandja, Hachille Monfere Zango (20) is one of the villagers queuing up for aid.
She returns briefly to the burnt-out shell of her old home.
She fled to the forest
with her four children during attacks on her village in November 2006.
After she left, her house was burned down and her husband was killed.
In order to survive she works in
other people’s fields.
Her major concern is for her children’s health - there are no medical facilities anywhere within reach.
She has no idea how she will
rebuild her house when she can finally go home, having lost everything in the attacks.
The combination of conflict and instability means that business and commerce is
grinding to a halt.
In northwest CAR, the ICRC tries to support the local economy buying goods and farm tools locally.
The blacksmith’s forge in Paoua, in
northwest C.A.R.
is working flat out to complete an ICRC order for 28,000 hoes.
The tools are being given out to displaced families so they can work their fields and
provide their own food.
22,000 hoes have so far been delivered.
ICRC delegate Michael Dürst visits the blacksmith’s forge in Paoua town regularly to check
progress.
In Bodoli, hoes were given out to displaced families living rough in the forest on 12 July.
It was the first time people had come back to the village en masse
since they fled into the bush over a year ago.
They return to the bush at the end of the day.
They are too frightened of further attacks to go home permanently.
Forest living is not alien to the people of northern and central C.A.R.
During peak periods in the farming year, labourers often camp out in the fields, but never for prolonged periods,
nor with their entire families as is happening now.
The onset of the rainy season is making life even more difficult, particularly for the children who are vulnerable to disease
and far from medical care.
The future for the villagers living rough in the forests of northwest CAR looks more uncertain the longer they stay away from their permanent
homes.
ICRC Facts and figs: The ICRC’s distribution programme for household items is targeting 100,000 people across northwest and central C.A.R.
The
distributions began in 2006 in the northwest, and in early 2007 in central C.A.R.
The ongoing programme around Kaga Bandoro is scheduled to be completed in August 2007.
Household items include sleeping mats, blankets, tarpaulins, kitchen utensils, metal basins, mosquito nets and soap
The supplies have been airlifted from the ICRC’s logistics base in Kenya,
or brought by truck from the ICRC regional delegation in Yaounde, Cameroun.
The soap and metal basins have been purchased locally in Bangui
The distributions in this footage took place on
9th July in Boimanja, near Kaga Bandoro (household items)
The ICRC is distributing 28,000 hoes to displaced farmers in villages around Paoua and Maconda in northwest C.A.R.
The programme
will be completed in August 2007
The ICRC has been present in C.A.R.
since 1997.
New offices were opened in Kaga Bandoro in January 2007 to meet growing needs in the
central region of C.A.R.
The ICRC is about to open an office in Birao, in the northeast of C.A.R.
Currently there are 18 ICRC expatriates and 48 national staff based in Bangui,
Paoua, Kaga Bandoro and Bangassou For additional tapes or information please contact:
Marcal Izard, ICRC Geneva, tel.
