Ignoring a Crisis in the Center of Africa

Our last team has returned from the field. Sayre and Yemi are now back from their mission to the Central African Republic (CAR) and Chad. The ongoing conflict and resulting displacement in northwest CAR does not get much media attention. Many say that it is one of the world's most forgotten humanitarian crises. Of course, to forget about a crisis you have to remember it in the first place, and this one is virtually unknown. RI has been watching this conflict, but not many others are.

While Sayre and Yemi were in CAR they traveled from the capital Bangui to the northwest with a group of UN agencies and international journalists. On Sunday, the New York Times published an article about the situation in CAR by Lydia Polgreen, one of the journalists traveling with the group. In her article, she paints a very grave picture of the humanitarian situation in the northwest, particularly of the civilians who have fled in fear from their homes and now live in the bush, where they have little access to food and receive no assistance. (Be sure to watch the video that accompanies the article, you can spot Sayre and Yemi seated, listening to Lydia Polgreen interview aid workers).

Sayre and Yemi took many photos while traveling around the northwest. You can view some of them and read descriptions of the current situation in the region in their visual mission, Scorched Earth in the Central African Republic.

There are approximately 150,000 internally displaced people in northwest CAR. And there are few humanitarian agencies working there at all, except for Doctors Without Borders/Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI). In November, the army forced all international organizations to stop their work when it launched a new offensive against armed groups in the region. Banditry and looting is rampant throughout the area, and government troops have burned down entire villages claiming that the residents support the local rebels.

On their mission, Sayre and Yemi traveled to an area of CAR where few others have been. Because of the lack of information available on the current humanitarian situation in CAR, there is already interest from other organizations in DC to hear Sayre and Yemi's findings. Now our job is to ensure that an increased focus on the displaced in CAR will bring much needed humanitarian assistance to the region.