Photo Credit: Refugees International
11/19/2006

Bandits (known as “coupeurs de route” or road blockers), rebels, and government military forces threaten the lives and livelihoods of people in northwest CAR. Armed bandits and rebels steal money, food and anything else they want from the population. People who left their villages along the roads to seek safety in the bush or in their fields told RI that the government forces (especially the Presidential Guard, as reported by numerous other sources), accuse them of supporting the rebels and then retaliate by burning their homes, along with any goods that might remain in the village.