Op mod 20.000 indvandrere og efterkommere af indvandrere fra fra Tchad føler sig så udsat i konflikten i den Centralafrikanske Republik at de flygter til hjemlandet, som mange af dem aldrig har besøgt.
BANGUI, 9 January 2014 (IRIN): Almost 20,000 people of Chadian origin have left violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) in recent weeks, and many more are expected to join the exodus, which is straining humanitarian capacity in Chad, a country many of those fleeing have never lived in.
“Those of us who were born here are Central Africans, but we are treated like foreigners. We have never seen Chad but have to go there for our own protection,” said Awa Rabilou, one of thousands of people camped for the last two weeks outside the Chadian embassy in Bangui, waiting for a place on a truck headed for Chad.
“Our houses were burnt. We left with only the clothes we were wearing. They even threw grenades at us. It was people who joined the anti-balaka who did this. If we stay in our neighbourhood, they will kill us,” added Rabilou.
“Anti-balaka”, which roughly translates as “machete-proof”, is the generic name for militias formed to oppose armed groups that, in March 2013, under the umbrella of the now officially disbanded Seleka alliance, overthrew president Francois Bozize. Lacking any effective command structure, the rebels went on to commit widespread abuses against civilians in many parts of the country.
“But it wasn’t us who brought [newly installed] President [Michel] Djotodia to power!” said Rabilou.
“Not all Muslims are eating at his table. We are also people, not animals. We are Central Africans, and we have rights in this country, but now all Muslims are considered foreigners. So we have decided to go and rest in Chad. Perhaps we will come back if it pleases God.”
Most of Seleka’s fighters were Muslim, and many were foreigners – mercenaries from Chad and Sudan.
Almost a million people in CAR have fled their homes amid a spate of attacks and killings committed across religious lines; most of the country’s 4.5 million inhabitants are Christian, and Muslims, especially Chadians, are widely perceived to be associated with or members of the ex-Seleka forces.
According to Chadian ambassador to Bangui Gen. Cherif Mahmat Dawsa, anti-balaka forces have killed eight Chadian soldiers deployed as part of a regional force in CAR. Some 57 Chadian civilians have been killed and dozens are missing, he added.
“These people want to go where there are no problems. We are taking our women and children to Chad because it is dangerous here. We don’t know where people will come from to attack us. We just want to protect our families,” said Salif Ahmat, who was also waiting outside the Chadian embassy.
Nearby was Hadja Rame Higa, who said she was born in the north of CAR “about 100 years ago.”
“I come from Bouca [450km north of Bangui]. They set fire to my house with all my belongings. They killed my two children; one was the local chief, the other a trader. They were both killed. My house was totally burned; I couldn’t take anything. I fled Bouca for Bangui, and now I have to flee Bangui to go to Chad,” she told IRIN.
Evacuations
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