Armed conflict

Internal review on the October 31st events in Batangafo, Central African Republic

For the last six years, the conflict has given few respites to the citizens in CAR. In a new recent peak of the conflict, MSF teams have witnessed the extreme violence exerted by different armed groups against the civilian population and the ineffectiveness of the UN’s peacekeeping mission in CAR, known as MINUSCA. The UN peacekeepers deployed to Batangafo were unable to prevent the attacks, resulting in death and displacement.

Medical facilities play a new role in this turf war, being used as pawns: access to them is prevented by force or threat to people “from one side” or “the other side”. This trend is just a ticking bomb for the mere existence of the health structures in the future.

This extreme and increasing violence has been evident in the last months in places like Batangafo, Alindao and Ippy in a pattern that MSF fears will be reproduced in the future, without a real system of protection and/or response. 

Msf-unprotected-batangafo-en pdf — 2.07 MB

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