Central African Republic was torn apart by the rise of the Seleka rebellion, an event the international community labeled as a religious conflict. Bangui, the capital, suffered widespread pillaging on two occasions, during the entrance of the Seleka rebels on the 24th of March 2013 and later during the entrance of the resistance group Antiballaka on the 5th of December of the same year, and infrastructure that took decades to build was wiped out in a few months. The Seleka, commanded by mercenaries from Chad and Sudan pillaged and killed sometimes indiscriminately planting chaos and hatred into the heart of a society that had always seen a peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Christians.
These photos were taken during an MSF relief mission. I wanted to show the plight of the people living in the aftermath of these events, common people that were not directly involved in the armed struggle who suffered all the consequences of living in a country torn apart by war. After the violence and the killing the worst calamity of a war is the collapse of a society. For a better understanding of the consequences of war it’s important to know its effect on the everyday lives of the population. The abrupt interruption of supply chains that raises the cost of life, the exodus caused by the destruction of residences and the violence, and the constant fear caused by the insecurity were all permanent factors in the lives of the inhabitants of Bangui that strove to press on with their lives despite the chaos. To document their struggle, I captured the everyday lives of eight people, all of them residents in neighborhoods that suffered the lion’s share of the violence and the destruction during and following the events in March and December 2013. Marcel, Evelyne, Claudere, Edmond, Achille, Charles, George and Christian. Four of these men suffered great family loses during the massacres and all had their personal property stolen during the pillaging, nearly all of them along with their families were former IDPs in the various camps spread around Bangui.
After the conflict ended with the massive presence of international peacekeeping forces in the country’s capital, came the difficult task for the people of reconstructing their lives and their country. There were many obstacles standing in their way; the insecurity and the violence left by the collapse of their police force and the spread of firearms during the conflict, the collapse of the national economy due to the pillaging and the expulsion of a large part of the Muslim population, whose entrepreneurial efforts aided the economy and the reestablishment of a supply chain that would bring the high cost of life left by the conflict down to normal standards. Perhaps the hardest hurdle Central Africans faced on their road to rebuilding their country was religious conflict. The effects of the hatred brought about by this conflict may be present for years to come.
© Daniel Botelho
