Since the middle of December 2007 groups of armed bandits known as “coupeurs de route” or “zaraguinas” have been mounting increasingly frequent, violent raids in the northerwestern region of the Central African Republic (CAR). As a result, though a significant number of people remain displaced within the country, insecurity prevents many of them from receiving assistance.

In February 2008 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) launched a program in Bocaranga, a zone of heavy banditry in the province of Ouham-Pendé. The program provides care to children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, a problem which has particularly affected the displaced people in Bocaranga and other towns in the region. One hundred children from Bocaranga town were admitted into the program during its first month of activity. In order to treat more children, MSF needs access to the surrounding villages, but the rise in banditry attacks has prevented teams from going to other towns in the area.

“Banditry has reached a scale unlike anything the already hard-hit people of this area have ever seen,” says Delphine, head of mission in the CAR. “Small business owners, villagers and health workers, as well as humanitarian workers, are now being fired upon, beaten, and held up whenever they run into ambushes by bandits. Transport companies are doubling their prices now when they have to carry cargo through this area, and truck drivers talk about charging