Central Africa villagers live in fear and hiding from gunmen

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

PAOUA, Central African Republic (AFP) — A serpentine path between corn and millet fields off a main road in the Central African Republic leads to a clearing where Abner Marboua and his family have taken refuge since December.

Partly razed, phantom villages of huts made from dried mud brick and roofs of straw stand empty on the highway, with not a soul to be seen. Nearly 100,000 people have fled bandits, rebel attacks and army repression since September 2005 in the northwest of the country.

Marboua's new home lies a kilometre (about half a mile) from his village on the road between Bossangoa to Paoua, more than 500 kilometres (310 miles) northwest of the southern capital Bangui.

Many villagers, including Marboa and his family, fled into the brush when rebels...