Land of Scars

Central Africa in 2011, Christians and Muslims live together in the same villages, next door. In peace. One year later. Central Africa is de facto divided, Christians and Muslims became enemies. Christian and Muslim oriented militias killing each other. The majority of the Christian population lives in refugee camps. Most Muslims have left the country.Almost all mosques are destroyed. The once peaceful land – a mess. Pictures of burning houses, of minced corpses, of people with machetes, grenades and Kalashnikovs go through the media. This is one of the bloodiest international conflicts. So brutal that UN compare the situation with the genocide in Rwanda. That was in 2014. Since then the civil war in Central Africa has largely disappeared from the international media. But that does not mean that the brutal killings have stopped between Muslim Seleka rebels and the Christian Anti-Balaka-fighters. Although there has been no attacks in the capital Bangui for months; but in the rural areas the attacks were continued unhindered. Although UN peacekeepers have been sixteen months in the country to protect civilians. Nevertheless, still one in five residents is on the run. „Around 370,000 people live as IDPs in other parts of the country, while 471,000 people have sought refuge in neighboring countries. Especially in Cameroon and the Congo the situation of 350,000 refugees living there is precarious. They often lack the bare essentials in their camps „, the Society for Threatened Peoples STP wrote in a report. After Europe, these refugees can not. People in Central Africa, they seem to have been forgotten by the world literally. Without an access to the sea, surrounded by crisis ridden countries without a good chance to find safe asylum. They became invisible.