A retrospective mortality survey conducted by MSF between March 26 and April 8, 2014 found that 8 percent (2,599 people) of the members of the families who took refuge in Sido, in southern Chad, died between November 2013 and April 2104, during a period of persecution targeting the Central African Republic’s (CAR) Muslim minority.

The survey data and the testimonies gathered by MSF teams in Chad and Cameroon highlight the breadth of the violence that the populations experienced both in the CAR and as they fled the country. The Central African refugees who reach Cameroon today are exhausted, sick and traumatised. Unlike the people who arrived initially, entering the country quickly in January 2014 by convoy or private transportation, those who cross the border today have walked for weeks, if not months, making their way through the western part of the country to escape the violence.Their health and nutritional status is very alarming, with nearly one of every two children suffering from malnutrition.

The majority of the Muslim population in the western half of CAR fled in just a few months. A few enclaves, protected by international forces from the hostile armed groups surrounding them, still shelter a few thousand Muslims, although their living conditions are very precarious and they have few prospects of safety.

Today, the populations victimised by the anti-Balaka and the ex-Seleka forces still face risks and peril as they try to flee to Cameroon and Chad, where they face a new obstacle since the Chadian government decided to close its border, including to people fleeing violence in CAR.