To live or just to be alive: the challenging life of internally displaced persons
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Batangafo in the Ouham Prefecture in the west of the country, have just spent 10 years at dedicated sites. Despite a voluntary return process for households originating from Batangafo center and the Bouca axis, 901 households of 3,656[i] displaced persons still remain at these sites. The latter had been created in 2014 at the height of the Central African conflict, to host the population of Batangafo and neighboring villages seeking refuge. With this extended stay at IDP sites, some of them are calling for assistance to return to their place of origin and resume a normal life, but the decision is not easily coming. Due to insecurity, one in five Central Africans is currently internally displaced or has found refuge abroad, mainly in neighbouring countries.
Violence against civilians and insecurity outside urban centers continue to impact the well-being of several million Central Africans, who see their livelihoods deteriorate and their access to food, drinking water and many other basic services, including healthcare, drastically limited. 2.8 million people - or 46 per cent of the population - will be extremely vulnerable in 2024, to the extent that humanitarian assistance alone will not be sufficient for their well-being.
Born and raised in a site for internally displaced persons.
Reine Koutigué celebrated her tenth birthday, at the same time as the Baga site in Batangafo where she was born and still lives. Thanks to humanitarian actors’ support at the Batangafo hospital, Reine's mother was able to receive the care she needed from the antenatal period through delivery. But on her birthday, she did not blow out candles like other children, or did receive best wishes messages. Unfortunately, it was just another day like any other, punctuated with promiscuity that is destabilizing for a child of her age. The little girl has never lived in a traditional habitat, such as the village where her parents' home was located.
Currently in 4th grade, Reine dreams of a career in health care to look after her brothers and sisters. "I don't want my brothers to die. I'm going to look after them when I grow up. That's why I'd like to work in a hospital," she said. Like Reine, many other children were born and are now growing up in the Baga site. According to testimonies, some of these children do not act like those born in a traditional habitat and behave somewhat differently.
"I sometimes find him lonely, sometimes aggressive, and I think this could be linked to the environment in which he's growing up", explained Emmanuel Mokpême, father of little Edouard, who like Reine will celebrate his tenth birthday soon. The youngster dreams of becoming a teacher, but his father has some doubts about his child's ability to concentrate compared to other children born and raised in a classic village. "It's the lack of landmarks, of games, of role models, of a normal day-to-day life that's doing all this," added Emmanuel, who would like to see his son grow up out of the IDP site.
Plans to return tested by resources and insecurity.
The decision to return is not without its difficulties for IDPs. Following improvement in the security situation, some IDPs decide to return to their villages, but need resources to resettle. During displacement, homes are either dilapidated or looted and sometimes burnt down by parties to the conflict. In other situations, IDPs have to choose between staying at the sites, returning to their places of origin because they are tired of living in precarious conditions, even if security conditions are not very reassuring, or staying at the sites because they have nothing left in their places of origin. "We no longer have a house. We came from the town of Bouca, 90 km from Batangafo. And going back is no longer possible because of insecurity," said Sabé Isaï, who has been living on the Baga IDP site for almost 10 years. In August 2023, around 489,000 IDPs were registered in the Central African Republic (CAR). 120,500 are living in sites, and 368,300 are staying in host families. A total of 227,000 people have returned to their villages in the last 12 months, mainly as a result of improved security situation.
Adapting the humanitarian response
Based on specificities of each region, the humanitarian community implements emergency assistance and/or support for the voluntary return of IDPs, in partnership with other actors. The humanitarian situation in the CAR is volatile, and regions once considered stable can suddenly shift into humanitarian emergency zones. Humanitarian actors are adapting their response based on this context, and are collaborating with other actors, notably on programs to support voluntary return.
Support for voluntary returns is one of the four axes of the intervention strategy of the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan. In 2023, humanitarian actors facilitated the voluntary return of over 1,220 households, comprising 4,467 displaced persons, to Batangafo center, notably by providing transitional shelters, rehabilitating water, hygiene and sanitation facilities, supplying essential household items and supporting income-generating activities for returning households. Alongside the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the Humanitarian Fund for CAR is one of the key donors for this vital initial support for returnees. To date, it has disbursed over US$ 2.6 million. Once resettled, returnees have other needs for which emergency assistance is no longer adapted, requiring intervention of other types of actors, notably to rebuild basic social services.
[i] Report of the Population Movement Commission (PMC) of March 2024