(ANS - Madrid)- The Central African Republic "lives in chaos because there is no government or institution after more than a year of conflict," said Fr Agustín Cuevas, Spanish Salesian missionary, in the encounter he had with reporters yesterday, Aug. 6, at the headquarters of the Salesian Mission Office in Madrid. Fr Cuevas is currently Director of the Salesian presence in Galabadja, Bangui, which houses a medical clinic with a maternity ward that is open 24 hours a day, in which more than 500 children were born, since the beginning of the conflict.

When fighting broke out, March 24, 2013, the Salesian missionaries have decided to stay close to the people. With the resurgence of violence that followed in December, "we were flooded with thousands and thousands of people in our facilities and it was a real problem of safety and hygiene." In January of this year, "more than 65,000 people took camp at our facilities in Bangui and we have organized thanks to the Scouts and a crisis committee which we formed together with other international organizations."

Today, the Salesians in Bangui, at the two presences in Damala and Galabadja, we accommodate to about 6,500 people. "We give our support, but no one believes in peace because all the talks have failed. This crisis can be overcome only with disarmament, increasing the awareness and the education of children to achieve a peaceful coexistence,” said Fr Cuevas.

The conflict between the members of the Séléka and the Anti-Balaka has really thrown the country into chaos, violence and revenge between Muslims and Christians. "The bottom of the problem was not religious, but it has been manipulated and at this moment it is certain that they can not be together."

Speaking of security, now "the situation in Bangui is more or less quiet thanks to the presence of the international forces, but the problem is the parts of the country, which is an inaccessible forest," says the missionary, who then recalled that the ordinary people suffer the most, who "still need food and medicine."

Fr Cuevas has spent over half his life in Africa. Almost 70 years old, he has spent 42 years on the African continent, including the last three in the Central African Republic.

The Salesian work in the neighbourhood of Galabadja is animated by 4 Salesians running a nursery with over a hundred children, a primary school for over 650 children, a parish with a youth centre and a medical clinic.

Posted on 08/07/2014