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1 of 22Apr. 1, 2014. Bangui. Internally displaced Muslims climb atop one of several fully loaded trucks in the city’s Muslim enclave of PK5, ready to leave for a safer area, either in the north or east or outside the country. They spent hours in the heat, becoming upset, but the truck never left. It was just a rumor.William Daniels—Panos -
2 of 22Apr. 9, 2014. Near Bangui. Muslims wait to be treated at a mobile clinic in the city’s PK12 enclave, where about 2,000 displaced Muslims have taken refuge and where food and access to medical care is very limited. They are mostly nomadic Peuhl who escaped fighting in the bush.William Daniels—Panos -
3 of 22Apr. 9, 2014. Near Bangui. At the mobile clinic in PK12.William Daniels—Panos -
4 of 22Mar. 27, 2014. A young Peuhl boy named Zakaria, who suffers from malnutrition and was brought to the pediatric center, is among the Muslims who have taken refuge at the mosque in the Muslim enclave of Begoua.William Daniels—Panos -
5 of 22Apr. 9, 2014. Near Bangui. A displaced Peuhl woman, about 40 years old, stays in PK12. She is very ill and suspected to have tuberculosis and maybe another disease.William Daniels—Panos -
6 of 22Mar. 27, 2014. Children peer through the blinds of a back room of the mosque in the Muslim enclave of Begoua, in the PK12 area, on the day that aid workers document malnourished children. Some 2,000 Muslims, mostly Peuhl, have taken refuge at the mosque. In PK12, there is limited access to food and medical care.William Daniels—Panos -
7 of 22Mar 28, 2014. Bangui. A man who survived a grenade attack in Fatima district that killed several other people collapses at the morgue of the hospital where some of his relatives’ bodies where brought.William Daniels—Panos -
8 of 22Mar. 28, 2014. Bangui. After a Friday prayer, displaced Muslims listen to speeches by a minister and the Imam of PK5’s main mosque, where several thousand displaced Muslims are staying in its courtyard.William Daniels—Panos -
9 of 22Mar. 31, 2014. Bangui. A jail where detainees can regularly escape and where the staff has reportedly not been paid in the last six months.William Daniels—Panos -
10 of 22Apr. 14, 2014. Gulinga, near Grimari. A house burns where ex-Séléka fighters had killed three christians—two men and a woman—and reportedly kidnapped a fourth just 30 minutes earlier, accusing them of being anti-balaka. An ex-Séléka colonel who admitted to the killing said the woman was collateral damage, of sorts, and that the men were the targets.William Daniels—Panos -
11 of 22Apr. 14, 2014. Gulinga. Distraught relatives of the deceased cry over the deaths of two men and a woman just killed by ex-Séléka fighters, who had accused them of being anti-balaka.William Daniels—Panos -
12 of 22Apr. 14, 2014. Gulinga. Relatives cry over the deaths of two men and a woman killed by ex-Séléka fighters.William Daniels—Panos -
13 of 22Apr. 16, 2014. Grimari. A man sits at the Catholic mission with nothing to do. Some 4,800 Christians have taken refuge at the mission from fighting between ex-Séléka and anti-balaka.William Daniels—Panos -
14 of 22Apr. 14, 2014. Grimari. A Christian woman who took refuge in the Catholic mission feeds her baby. The mission grew from several hundred on the first day to several thousand one day later as anti-balaka attacked the village.William Daniels—Panos -
15 of 22Apr. 16, 2014. Grimari. Some 4,800 Christians displaced by fighting between ex-Séléka and anti-balaka have taken refuge at the Catholic mission.William Daniels—Panos -
16 of 22Apr. 16, 2014. Grimari. Some 4,800 Christians displaced by fighting between ex-Séléka and anti-balaka have taken refuge at the Catholic mission.William Daniels—Panos -
17 of 22Apr. 16, 2014. Grimari. Some 4,800 Christians displaced by fighting between ex-Séléka and anti-balaka have taken refuge at the Catholic mission.William Daniels—Panos -
18 of 22Apr. 15, 2014. Grimari. Christians who have taken refuge from fighting between ex-Séléka and anti-balaka at the Catholic mission went back to their homes to get belongings during a break in the clashes. The people heading right are running to their homes. The people walking left are returning to the mission with the items they could carry back.William Daniels—Panos -
19 of 22Apr. 15, 2014. Christians who have taken refuge from fighting between ex-Séléka and anti-balaka at the Catholic mission went back to their homes to get belongings during a break in the clashes.William Daniels—Panos -
20 of 22Apr. 13, 2014. Bambari. An ex-Séléka fighter stands watch outside his base.William Daniels—Panos -
21 of 22Apr. 13, 2014. Bambari. Ex-Séléka fighters in their base prepare to travel to nearby Grimari, where anti-balaka are trying to attack the city.William Daniels—Panos -
22 of 22Apr. 13, 2014. Bambari. Ex-Séléka fighters in their base help their comrades start the truck as they prepare to travel to Grimari. Over the next few days, Grimari was attacked by anti-balaka.William Daniels—Panos
Armed groups of vigilantes called anti-balaka, comprised of Christians, animists and former troops loyal to the toppled government, have spent months trying to rid Central African Republic of most of its Muslims. Many claim they’re exacting revenge against Séléka, the disbanded coalition of mainly Muslim rebels who staged a coup more than a year ago and initiated horrific abuses like rape, torture and random killings, largely against non-Muslims. But their retaliatory atrocities have amounted to reports of ethnic cleansing and warnings of religion-fueled murder, destabilizing the land to the darkest period in its modern history.
Tens of thousands of Muslims, at a minimum, have fled to Cameroon, Chad and Democratic Republic of Congo. But those who haven’t been forced out or killed, or who don’t remain in the western region either at will or by force, have moved to the eastern part of the country, where fighting that has gripped the west for months is just starting to creep in, or at least be documented.
(More: Bloodshed in Bangui: A Day That Will Define Central African Republic)
French photojournalist William Daniels spent much of his fourth trip since November covering the impact of the conflict on people in the capital, Bangui, and the northwest. As French troops shifted into the third phase of their intervention begun in December, he traveled east to peek into life where ex-Séléka rebels reign and where few aid workers and journalists have yet ventured. “It’s definitely the next stage of the story,” he says.
Daniels, 37, and a few other journalists had a good contact in a ex-Séléka general stationed in Bambari, the capital city of the Ouaka region and viewed as the gateway to the east. Bambari appeared normal as both Muslim and Christian neighborhoods in the city seemed peaceful. “We hadn’t seen that in the West in a long time,” he says. Local Christians said they were pleased with the general’s arrival months ago because he batted down intercommunal tension that began to permeate and worked to oust the more radical rebels.
(More: Witness to Collapse: Violence and Looting Tear Apart Central African Republic)
But that didn’t mean all was well. After Bambari, Daniels traveled to nearby Grimari, where clashes between anti-balaka and ex-Séléka and then heavy rains would keep him for three days. At the Catholic mission, where hundreds of people had sought refuge, Daniels heard about an attack in a nearby village, Gulinga. Near a burning house were the bodies of two men and one woman. Their blood hadn’t yet dried when he arrived. He surveyed the scene, taking pictures of the wailing relatives over the corpses, then left amid rumors the perpetrators were circling back. Ex-Séléka admitted the next day they were responsible, claiming the men were anti-balaka and the woman was in the wrong place at the wrong time, a sort of collateral damage.
The number of displaced at the mission grew by thousands of people over the next few days before Daniels returned to Bangui. The entry of French troops allowed residents to return home and bring back food and supplies, whatever they could carry, showing the beginnings of a new camp. “The first day, you had people completely scared [of the situation]. The second, you had people beginning to cook. On the third day, you had a small market,” he recalls. “The life of the city had completely moved into the camp.” That scene has become familiar across Central African Republic. When life will again move out of the camp is anyone’s guess.
William Daniels is a photographer represented by Panos Pictures. Daniels previously wrote for LightBox about his escape from Syria.
Andrew Katz is a homepage editor and reporter covering international affairs. Follow him on Twitter @katz.
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