(ANS - Madrid) - "We're fine, but today we fear an escalation of violence in Bangui" says Fr Agustin Cuevas, a Spanish missionary who works in Bangui in the Central African Republic. There was an attack last Wednesday in the parish of Our Lady of Fatima which caused the deaths of fifteen people, and the tension in the capital has increased. "We do not know who they are,” Fr Cuevas said. “What we do know is that they are heavily armed."

"So far the situation has been more or less quiet. We kept the school in Galabadja open and the professional centre in Damala, but the people are more afraid now, and so are we."  Thousands of people are forced to leave their homes in search of a safe place to sleep. They find shelter in the two Salesian centres at Damala and Galabadja in Bangui. The Salesians are also hosting hundreds of children who have been orphaned or separated from their families.

The Central African Republic has been through many difficult situations. There are over a million displaced persons, 500,000 of whom are children. Children are the most vulnerable victims of war and, according to international organizations, at least 6,000 children are used by armed groups. Seven out of ten children do not attend school and 80% of schools have been destroyed.

Staff from Médecins Sans Frontièreswork at the Don Bosco Hospital, and they do not get a minute’s rest. Every day hundreds of people are treated, people who have been injured by stray bullets or women who are about to give birth.

Faced with this situation, the Salesian Mission Office in Madrid is asking the international community for increased efforts to end the violence in the Central African Republic and to improve security so that the Salesian missionaries will be able to continue their assistance to the population.

Published 30/05/2014