Central African Republic: Consolidated Appeal 2011 Mid-Year Review

In the midst of a still-fragile regional context, the Central African Republic (CAR) has achieved a significant step towards peace consolidation, with the peaceful holding of national elections in early 2011. In spite of the many claims put forward by the opposition regarding the legitimacy of the parliamentary election results, incumbent President Bozize was re-elected for a second term without major incidents. However, this important achievement has not yet brought the anticipated improvements for the vast majority of the CAR population.

In the north-west where the majority of the internally displaced people are located, little progress has been made towards building an environment conducive to durable returns. Similarly, CAR refugees in both Cameroon and Chad await further guarantees before returning to their home country. Whilst a comprehensive reintegration strategy has been agreed by the Government and its partners, no concrete steps have yet been taken in the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) process, in spite of the strong will of the Government to do so.

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Meeting basic needs in the most isolated corner of Africa

A whole day travelling: that’s the time in which a plane takes its passengers from one side of the world to the other, or how long it takes a family going on holiday in their car to cross a mid-sized country or a large American state. Even a cyclist can easily cover more than 100km (60 miles) in a day.

A truck carefully moves off a rudimentary ferry on the road
north of Bria, north-east CAR.

But in the remote north-east of the Central African Republic, the few Sudanese truckers who try to get their much-needed supplies through to these isolated towns and villages are lucky if they manage to cover 60km (36 miles) in that same day. And that’s during the dry season, when the sand has not turned to sludge and the countless streams are dry and easily forded. When it’s wet, the trucks simply disappear into the morass and wait, totally immobilised for months. There are no bridges – in fact, there is nothing that anyone could really describe as a road, whatever the optimistic twenty-year-old map might indicate. Just a narrow dirt or sand track fast disappearing in the undergrowth, winding its way northwards through the scrub forests for hundreds of kilometres.

The road south of Ouadda.

There are no other routes. This region is as far from the sea as it is possible to get in Africa – 1,600km (1,000 miles) as the crow flies – and in the dry savannah the rivers are far too small for cargo boats. The government has neither the means nor the capacity to govern here; they can provide no security, support or supplies, and have hardly done so for decades. The people who eke out an existence here have no other choice but to be totally self-sufficient, their only connection with the outside world those trucks that manage to get through a few times a year. The truckers, in addition to having to dig themselves out of the sand a few times a day, take the risk of being attacked and robbed by armed bandits who take advantage of the area’s remoteness. Last week, they struck six times within as many days along the only practicable road that leads from Bangui, the Central African Republic’s capital, to the north-eastern Vakaga region. With difficulties this big and the tiny profits available from the impoverished population, many truckers are giving up and no longer return.

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HDPT’s Info Bulletin no 39 (November 19 – November 26) is out – with detailed information on current humanitarian and development activities in the Central African Republic. It contains a current overview on the most important developments and news from within and about CAR. Continue Reading »