(ANS – Bangui) – The Central African Republic continues to be stuck in administrative, legislative and social chaos. Next week it will be 16 months since  the coup carried out by the Séléka coalition, and far from being resolved, the conflict is getting worse. The Salesian missionaries claim that "the country does not exist - there is no law and nothing works."  According to an interview by the Salesian Mission Office in Madrid:  “In the face of everyday problems, the Salesians in the capital, Bangui, have only one concern: to continue to take care of the people who take refuge in our buildings."

In the poorer neighbourhoods of Damala and Galabadja, in Bangui, hundreds of people have been receiving shelter in two Salesian houses for the past seven months. The majority of the displaced people are women and children who fled from the violence that broke out in the capital on 5 December last.

People don’t know who to turn to. The army is in disarray. The people are caught in crossfire between two brutal armed groups, the Séléka and Anti-Balaka.  Many have found refuge in religious houses. "Until last December we had received no refugees because the people remained terrified in their homes," said Fr Cuevas Agustín, SDB, a missionary for 42 years in Africa, and now parish priest in Galabadja.

The Salesians of the Galabadja community have been trying for years to build a small oasis of service in this suburb, with a school and a medical dispensary. Now they have been forced to open their doors and welcome the displaced population. "We have to be  parents, judges, doctors and even guards, and to provide humanitarian assistance to the population," says Fr Cuevas.

The local homeless people in the Salesian houses are not alone. Up to 22,000 people have come into our grounds and buildings here in Galabadja.  They sleep huddled on the benches and on the floor of the church, while outside the sound of gunfire, grenades and mortars does not cease.

Today we have a few hundred people from the provinces and districts that have suffered most. "Our commitment continues to be to provide security and help them to return to normal life," says Fr Cuevas.

Published 23/07/2014