April 3, 2014.
According to the UN refugee agency, until now the crisis has driven around one million people from their homes. In addition to Chad, many Muslims have also fled to neighboring Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.
Intervention by foreign forces, the resignation and exile of the Muslim Seleka leader, the appointment of a Christian president have all failed to stop the hostility. Anti-balaka continues to exact brutal killings against Muslims. Rape and looting are also reportedly rampant in the Muslim areas of Bangui, capital of CAR.
According to the UN refugee agency, until now the crisis has driven around one million people from their homes. In addition to Chad, many CAR Muslims have also fled to neighboring Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.
Military convoys from Chad that are crossing over to CAR to pick up the homeless have been attacked by anti-balaka militiamen several times.
By far the majority of the refugees are women and children. A young mother who didn't mention her name reported to Guardian that she left her home in Yaloke and hid for three weeks in the bush after her village was attacked by Christian militia. French soldiers rescued her and she made it to Bangui. "When the trucks leave, you clamber on as best you can," she adds. She has no idea what happened to her husband and son. Another woman named Ramatou Moussa, one of the many refugees in Chad, recounted that the Christian militia attacked her home in Bangui and butchered her husband and mother with machetes. She escaped with her five children. The cross-border journeys are long and exhausting. Two middle-aged siblings, a brother and a sister, both in their 60s, told OnIslam.net that their spouses and children were killed and they fled on foot, arriving in Chad. There are heartbreaking stories of at least 50 minor children who arrived in Chad alone, terrified and shaken, after seeing their parents and neighbors getting murdered by armed Christian militias in CAR.
Many refugees, after arriving in Chad, are taken to temporary medical clinics put up by Medecins Sans Frontieres. These makeshift clinics are flooded with refugees fleeing CAR. After weeks on the road they are exhausted. Most of them are dehydrated and suffering from malaria, diarrhoea and vomiting, and by the time they arrive in Chad to get the basic medical care, it's too late for many of them. Dozens of children refugees are suffering from extreme malnutrition. A volunteer at Medecins Sans Frontieres mentioned that along the road, people are so crammed into the trucks that some have fallen and sustained broken bones. He added, despite all that, the refugees look emotionally strong. "The refugees are resigned. They're tough. It’s quite striking," he said.
The refugees left CAR with barely nothing. They are in urgent need of basic items like clothes, groceries and medication. Several Muslim humanitarian workers are engaged in relief work in neighboring countries around CAR, mostly from South Africa and Turkey. Medecins Sans Frontieres has been doing a lot to help the refugees, particularly the ill and injured. Mali Relief Team is another selfless organization offering every help it can despite its limited resources. It reported the firsthand story of a doctor named Idriss who worked in Gadzi, a small town in Central African Republic. He was compelled to leave Gadzi against his will after being threatened with murder by the anti-balaka militants. He left behind everything and fled to Chad with his family for safety. His wife is very ill, suffering from acute malaria. Idriss and his family in Chad are now facing hunger and malnutrition in staggering magnitude as reported by World Food Program.
Though most Muslim refugees from CAR in Chad are safe, their living conditions are terrible with little or no food. Mothers are worried how they will feed their young ones. They collect firewood and sell it in the market for a few cents. But that's not enough.
The town of Sido in Chad is particularly overwhelmed. A refugee camp in Sido reported it has only 300 camps, 120 latrines and no shower for 15,000 refugees. What is still more worrisome, food is in very short supply. So far World Food Program has provided only two handouts. Chad's welfare ministry stated that it has only 100 sacks of rice to distribute to all refugees of this camp, and it needs at least 20 times more.
Amnesty International issued a warning back in February 2014 that Anti-Balaka fighters in the Central African Republic were trying to "ethnically cleanse Muslims." Several human rights observers have accused French peacekeeping forces of doing almost nothing to protect the Muslim minority from their killers.
It's unfortunate that news outlets like NY Times are publishing isolated stories of a few militants shot by peacekeeping forces but conspicuously silent over thousands of Muslims brutally killed and cannibalized by these militants, and over 80,000 who have fled to neighboring Chad as refugees with only the clothes on their backs. Almost all of those who are trapped in the battle are Muslims under serious threat from anti-balaka Christian militiamen. Many homeless Muslims within CAR living in makeshift camps are still surrounded by the militias with little or no signs of intervention by peacekeeping forces.
According to the UN refugee agency, until now the crisis has driven around one million people from their homes. In addition to Chad, many Muslims have also fled to neighboring Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.
Intervention by foreign forces, the resignation and exile of the Muslim Seleka leader, the appointment of a Christian president have all failed to stop the hostility. Anti-balaka continues to exact brutal killings against Muslims. Rape and looting are also reportedly rampant in the Muslim areas of Bangui, capital of CAR.
According to the UN refugee agency, until now the crisis has driven around one million people from their homes. In addition to Chad, many CAR Muslims have also fled to neighboring Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.
Military convoys from Chad that are crossing over to CAR to pick up the homeless have been attacked by anti-balaka militiamen several times.
By far the majority of the refugees are women and children. A young mother who didn't mention her name reported to Guardian that she left her home in Yaloke and hid for three weeks in the bush after her village was attacked by Christian militia. French soldiers rescued her and she made it to Bangui. "When the trucks leave, you clamber on as best you can," she adds. She has no idea what happened to her husband and son. Another woman named Ramatou Moussa, one of the many refugees in Chad, recounted that the Christian militia attacked her home in Bangui and butchered her husband and mother with machetes. She escaped with her five children. The cross-border journeys are long and exhausting. Two middle-aged siblings, a brother and a sister, both in their 60s, told OnIslam.net that their spouses and children were killed and they fled on foot, arriving in Chad. There are heartbreaking stories of at least 50 minor children who arrived in Chad alone, terrified and shaken, after seeing their parents and neighbors getting murdered by armed Christian militias in CAR.
Many refugees, after arriving in Chad, are taken to temporary medical clinics put up by Medecins Sans Frontieres. These makeshift clinics are flooded with refugees fleeing CAR. After weeks on the road they are exhausted. Most of them are dehydrated and suffering from malaria, diarrhoea and vomiting, and by the time they arrive in Chad to get the basic medical care, it's too late for many of them. Dozens of children refugees are suffering from extreme malnutrition. A volunteer at Medecins Sans Frontieres mentioned that along the road, people are so crammed into the trucks that some have fallen and sustained broken bones. He added, despite all that, the refugees look emotionally strong. "The refugees are resigned. They're tough. It’s quite striking," he said.
The refugees left CAR with barely nothing. They are in urgent need of basic items like clothes, groceries and medication. Several Muslim humanitarian workers are engaged in relief work in neighboring countries around CAR, mostly from South Africa and Turkey. Medecins Sans Frontieres has been doing a lot to help the refugees, particularly the ill and injured. Mali Relief Team is another selfless organization offering every help it can despite its limited resources. It reported the firsthand story of a doctor named Idriss who worked in Gadzi, a small town in Central African Republic. He was compelled to leave Gadzi against his will after being threatened with murder by the anti-balaka militants. He left behind everything and fled to Chad with his family for safety. His wife is very ill, suffering from acute malaria. Idriss and his family in Chad are now facing hunger and malnutrition in staggering magnitude as reported by World Food Program.
Though most Muslim refugees from CAR in Chad are safe, their living conditions are terrible with little or no food. Mothers are worried how they will feed their young ones. They collect firewood and sell it in the market for a few cents. But that's not enough.
The town of Sido in Chad is particularly overwhelmed. A refugee camp in Sido reported it has only 300 camps, 120 latrines and no shower for 15,000 refugees. What is still more worrisome, food is in very short supply. So far World Food Program has provided only two handouts. Chad's welfare ministry stated that it has only 100 sacks of rice to distribute to all refugees of this camp, and it needs at least 20 times more.
Amnesty International issued a warning back in February 2014 that Anti-Balaka fighters in the Central African Republic were trying to "ethnically cleanse Muslims." Several human rights observers have accused French peacekeeping forces of doing almost nothing to protect the Muslim minority from their killers.
It's unfortunate that news outlets like NY Times are publishing isolated stories of a few militants shot by peacekeeping forces but conspicuously silent over thousands of Muslims brutally killed and cannibalized by these militants, and over 80,000 who have fled to neighboring Chad as refugees with only the clothes on their backs. Almost all of those who are trapped in the battle are Muslims under serious threat from anti-balaka Christian militiamen. Many homeless Muslims within CAR living in makeshift camps are still surrounded by the militias with little or no signs of intervention by peacekeeping forces.
Muslim refugees who escaped CAR.
Muslims fleeing CAR.
Refugees trucks arriving in Chad from CAR.
Chad: A makeshift clinic with basic medicines.
Presently this is the best the refugees can get after fleeing their homes in CAR.
CAR: The fanatic anti-balaka Christian militias out on an ethnic cleansing mission.
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