Bodies in the streets amid Central African Republic fighting

“The neighbourhood next to our base has been burned down, as have other parts of the town,” said Mia Hejdenberg, head of the Doctors Without Borders mission. “We were able to work this weekend to provide medical aid and logistical support to the most vulnerable, but the fighting started again.”

Eight wounded people have made their way to a health centre, but Hejdenberg warned that many more likely cannot reach such places.

Six bodies found in the streets nearby have been buried, said a priest at the local Catholic mission, Jean-Alain Zembi. The odour in the air is terrible, Zemio Mayor Rosalie Nawira said.

Violence broke out in Central African Republic in 2013, when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the capital, Bangui. Christian anti-Balaka militias fought back, resulting in thousands of people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Seleka rebels continue to fight Christian militias around the country. Some Seleka factions also have been fighting each other or local defence groups as tensions build.

Doctors Without Borders has had to downsize its team in the impoverished country because of the resurging violence. It is difficult to assess “the shifting allegiances and groups,” the group said Thursday, adding that the “reading of the dynamic is quite difficult.”

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Petesch reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Christopher Torchia in Johannesburg contributed.

Hippolyte Marboua And Carley Petesch, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Bodies in the streets amid Central African Republic fighting

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