A strategic city in the Central African Republic, Bria was also one of the pillars of the Central African diamond sector before the crisis. Today, she continues to wait for the election on December 27 in fear, amplified by new unrest in the western part of the country.
From our correspondent in the Central African Republic,
Smallest campaign in Bria. Only two presidential candidates have passed the city. In the large red laterite square facing Saint-Louis Parish Church, a stand in favor of incumbent President Faustin Archange Touadéra, a river of deafening music pours out. Saleh, a young hairdresser with a Rastafarian hairstyle, behind his small outdoor shop, observes the scene with pleasure. He will vote for the president, because he likes music.
But few want to speak out. The city is still under tension. The problem here is security. Despite the return of the state and the regular patrols of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) returning to the city, the rebels are still present and also circulate in pick-ups and cross the UN mission armored vehicles (Minusca) and non-governmental vehicles.
Enemy brothers
Bria is a strategic city due to its central location, the intersection of northern and southern parts of the country. But in recent days, the news has not been good. A new coalition of armed groups has been formed; The Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), to terminate the peace agreement on February 6, 2019, put pressure on the government and cancel the election. The situation is painfully reminiscent of 2013, when an alliance of political-military groups, Seleka, came down to the capital and seized power in Bangui. The situation had caused indescribable chaos and plunged the country into a bloodbath.
Self-defense groups, anti-balaka, were then created to fight Seleka, but after the return to constitutional order, all these groups continued to control a large part of the territory, allied themselves or s ” introduced according to the circumstances, with the only common goal of predation on natural resources and taxation of populations. The new CPC gathers the greatest enemy brothers ex-Seleka and anti-Balaka on paper and threatens to land on Bangui.
Wait and see
Collisions have already taken place on the main axes leaving the capital. Problem: among the members of this new heterogeneous collection, exactly two of these armed groups are present in Bria. “Since things started in the West, with Minusca, we have taken the time to see armed groups to sensitize them, but underlines Chief Evariste Binguinidji. They told us they did not go for what happened there. Rather, other sources suggest a wait-and-see attitude on the part of these groups. “We also talked to FACA, the prefect continues, because there was a tendency to defect.”
However, Evariste Binguinidji acknowledges that the rumors and information circulating “panic the people”, even though “everyone is doing their business.” According to him, the ballot papers came and the residents started coming to look for them. “Many came to the Mass this weekend,” confirms Father Bruce, from the parish of Saint-Christophe. The churches have, of course, expressed concern about what is happening in the West, but there is no panic. They are calmly waiting for the vote. ”
Build in brick to avoid bullets
But the threat is there, as Bria is still living in the trauma of the conflict. 50,000 inhabitants, or about half of the population are still displaced, limited to three kilometers from the city center (at PK3) where a second city seems to have emerged from the ground in a few years. Thousands of small brick cottages and a few shops. Why have you built massively, where in other camps are the houses made of tarpaulins and wood? “It’s because of the uncertainty,” said Romaric Bagoyatogo, IDP camp coordinator. Bullets that whistle when it penetrates can hurt. That’s what people built with bricks. The majority of the people on the site want to return, but the problem is that the armed groups are still there. People are scared. “
The violence really remains, and by January last year, the fighting between various factions in ex-Seleka about fifty dead and several thousand more displaced. Life in the camp is not easy, but the fear keeps them there. Some return to reclaim their land, but more often their homes have not been destroyed. Everyone in the camp was hired to go and vote. The distribution of ballot papers began on 19 December.
The blurred gloss from “La Scintillante”
Hassan * came to this camp in January at the end of the fighting with his family. But he quickly returned home to town to resume work. Like many collectors, the walls of his building are painted with tall diamond designs in shimmering colors. In his office, a diamond lamp, pliers and a magnifying glass leave little doubt about his activity. An extensive safe complements the picture. Hassan has been buying and selling diamonds for over 15 years. The diamond is what gave the city of Bria its nickname “La Scintillante”. But its luster has deteriorated slightly since 2013.
Hassan knows his job from the inside out. “You see this pebble,” he said, pointing to a small ocher stone decorated with small round black shapes, “when you walk on it you are likely to have diamonds under your feet.” But since the crisis, nothing has worked for him. The Bria region is in an export-restricted zone through the Kimberley Process (an international mechanism to combat “blood diamonds”). Many of the region’s mines – mostly artisanal – are under the control of armed groups.
Kimberley
For this reason, purchasing offices (the only ones with the right to export rough diamonds) no longer invest in the sector. Hassan can no longer sell the diamonds he received on good terms. “Some people buy for us what we managed to get, but I can not tell you what they do with it afterwards. It is not their fault, he protests, but it is the fault of international public opinion. “Paradoxically, in CAR it is the illegal sector that has mainly benefited from the Kimberley embargo. They are still 5 or 6 collectors living in Bria in some way. They were forty before the crisis. Hassan is very hard on armed groups.” Only power can overcome it “, he torments.
Omar Ibrahim does not agree. The president of the Bria merchants, very smiling, in his white tunic wants peace to return to the city. “Trucks with goods are already returning from Sudan,” he said. The situation is improving. “He believes that armed groups can be perfectly integrated into mixed units, provided for in the peace agreement of February 2019.” They know Fulani well, “he says,” they can be useful to discuss with them. “Peuls, traditional nomadic shepherds, are sinking down to graze their livestock, causing tensions with farmers and local people. This is one of the main reasons for the duration of conflicts in the Central African Republic.
* For security reasons, some first names and details of interviewees have been changed.
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