 © UNICEF/HQ07-0128/Pirozzi This primary school is run by a Catholic mission in the area and provides schooling for some 380 children. The school's name, Nakotanguia, means "With Great Hope" in the local language. |
It’s been a long day and I have seen a lot. It is a struggle to form any coherent picture of the conflict that has devastated the Central African Republic. Here are the players: the presidential guards, the government army, four rebel groups, bandits and insurgents from Chad and Sudan.
The victims are the innocent civilian population of CAR. Out of a total population of four million, one million are lively in desperate needs of humanitarian assistance. At least 150,000 are struggling to survive in the bush.
Today, on the road to Paoua, a town which was recently the scene of fighting between government forces and rebels, there was scarily not a single village that was not destroyed or abandoned. We paused at one of these burned villages, and stood quietly while hundreds emerged from the bush. They were caked in dust, barely clothed in tattered rags. While we were speaking with them, sounds of an oncoming vehicle sent them fleeing back into the bush.
To see that many people running in terror is something I will never forget.
