Thousands Flee Renewed Clashes in Central African Republic
Voice of America
GENEVA - The U.N. refugee agency reports renewed fighting between government forces and rebel groups in Central African Republic has sent more than 2,000 refugees fleeing for their lives to neighboring Chad this past week. Newly arriving refugees have been telling aid workers in Chad of the mayhem engulfing their region. The refugees, who come from CAR’s northern Kaga-Bandoro region describe shocking acts of violence, looting and extortion by rebel groups as government forces were closing in on them.
As people were fleeing toward the Chadian border, U.N. refugee spokesman, Babar Balloch, says other people from towns they passed along the way joined them, fearing that they too would come under rebel attack. “To reach Chad, people had to wade shoulder-deep through the Grande Sido river, with some carrying their few belongings on their heads," he said. "The refugees are now settled in Gandaza village inside Chad on the other side of the border… although some are having to resort to crossing back into CAR to find food or salvage what little is left from their properties.” Chad is hosting nearly 11,000 of the 117,000 Central African refugees who have fled violence sparked by CAR’s contested presidential and parliamentary elections in December.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.