Central

Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona and Alfred Yekatom have been sentenced for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The International Criminal Court has convicted two leaders of a predominantly Christian rebel group in the Central African Republic for multiple war crimes committed against Muslim civilians during the country’s civil war in 2013 and 2014, sentencing each to more than a decade in prison.

The former president of the CAR Football Federation, Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona, along with Alfred Yekatom, a rebel leader known as “Rambo,” were found guilty on Thursday of their involvement in atrocities including murder, torture and attacking civilians.

The court sentenced Yekatom to 15 years for 20 war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Ngaissona received 12 years for 28 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The charges stem from their roles as senior leaders in a militia known as the anti-Balaka, which was formed in 2013 after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels stormed the capital Bangui in March of that year and toppled then-President Francois Bozize, a Christian.

The violence that ensued left thousands of civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of others. Mosques, shops and homes were looted and destroyed.

The ICC’s presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt read harrowing details in The Hague of the violence committed by the militia against suspected Seleka Muslims.

Yekatom’s men tortured one suspect by cutting off his fingers, toes, and one ear. This man’s body was never found. Others were killed and then mutilated.

Appearing in court dressed in a light brown suit and waistcoat, white shirt, and dark tie, Yekatom listened impassively as the judge read out the verdict.

Dressed in a bright blue jacket, Ngaissona nodded to the judge as his sentence was delivered.

The court found Yekatom not guilty of conscripting child soldiers and acquitted Ngaissona of the charge of rape.

Both men had pleaded not guilty to all charges laid out in the trial, which opened in 2021. It is the first case at the ICC, which began in May 2014, to focus on the violence that erupted after the Seleka seized power in the CAR in 2013.

Yekatom was extradited to The Hague in late 2018, after being arrested in the CAR for firing his gun in parliament. Ngaissona was arrested in France in December 2018 and extradited to The Hague.

The trial of an alleged Seleka commander, Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, is ongoing.

Last year, judges at the ICC unsealed another arrest warrant in the investigation. According to prosecutors, Edmond Beina commanded a group of about 100-400 anti-balaka fighters responsible for murdering Muslims in early 2014.

Separate proceedings against Beina and five others at a specially-created court are slated to begin in the CAR on Friday.

The CAR is among the poorest nations in the world and has endured a succession of civil wars and authoritarian governments since gaining independence from France in 1960.

Violence has subsided in recent years, but fighting occasionally erupts in remote regions between rebels and the national army, which is backed by Russian mercenaries and Rwandan troops.

July 21 (UPI) — At least three people were killed Monday as Israel launched a fresh air and ground offensive in Gaza, attacking the central area of the enclave for the first time, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been sheltering.

The casualties came after Israeli forces shelled Deir al-Balah and the Bureij refugee camp. They were among 17 people killed across the strip, including in the Al Mawasi area west of Khan Younis and Jabalia in the north.

With aircraft and artillery providing covering fire, tanks, armored vehicles and infantry advanced into Deir al-Balah from the Kisufim checkpoint on the Gaza-Israel boundary early Monday.

Giving warning of the offensive on an area it said it had not previously targeted, the Israel Defense Forces earlier ordered Palestinians to “immediately evacuate south toward Al Mawasi “for your safety.”

“To all those present in the southwestern area of Deir al-Balah, in blocks 130, 132-134, 136-139, 2351, including those inside the tents located in the area, The Defense Army continues to operate with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area, as it expands its activities in this region to operate in an area it has not operated in before,” IDF spokesman Adraee Avichay wrote in a post on X.

While most of Gaza is in complete ruins, Deir al-Balah has seen a massive influx of displaced people, drawn by the relative safety and still functioning infrastructure and services, which in turn has made it a hub of operations for the U.N. and other agencies.

The IDF, for its part, has until now avoided attacks of any significance for fear of harming hostages who are believed to be held by Hamas in the area.

The United Nations’ humanitarian affairs office condemned the order for at least 50,000 Palestinians to move again, warning it would have a devastating impact on efforts to stop people from dying.

“OCHA warns that today’s mass displacement order issued by the Israeli military has dealt yet another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip. Today’s order covers more than two square miles of Deir al Balah, spanning four neighbourhoods,” it said in a news release.

“Initial estimates indicate that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area at the time the order was issued, including some 30,000 people sheltering in 57 displacement sites. At least 1,000 families have fled the area in recent hours.”

The U.N. added that the order split Deir al-Balah in two, saying it would further fragment and hamper the ability of the U.N. and other NGOs to move safely and effectively within Gaza, cutting off humanitarian access at a time when it was badly needed.

The agency vowed that its staff would remain in place across multiple U.N. sites in Deir al-Balah and, having shared their coordinates with relevant bodies, called for the locations to be protected along with the civilian sites.

Monday’s offensive came a day after the Hamas-run health ministry said at least 67 people were killed as they were waiting for aid from the United Nations in northern Gaza.

The U.N. World Food Program said its 25-truck convoy “encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians, which came under gunfire” after the trucks had cleared checkpoints.

They were among 94 people killed on Sunday, according to the Gaza civil defense agency.

The Gaza Health Ministry said another 19 died of starvation.

Thousands of leaflets dropped over Deir el-Balah, ordering Palestinians to move to a ‘safe zone’ Israel has repeatedly bombed.

The Israeli military has issued a new forced evacuation warning for the Palestinians in central Gaza, ordering them to move south to al-Mawasi, an area Israel has regularly attacked despite declaring it a “safe zone”.

Thousands of leaflets were dropped over Deir el-Balah on Sunday, telling displaced families living in tents in several densely populated parts of the city to leave immediately.

The Israeli military warned of imminent action against Hamas fighters in the area as it continued its deadly attacks on unarmed and starving civilians desperately looking for food, killing dozens of Palestinians on Sunday, at least 73 of them aid seekers in northern Gaza.

In a post on X, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area should leave immediately.

Israel was “expanding its activities” around Deir el-Balah, including “in an area where it has not operated before”, Adraee said, telling Palestinians to “move south towards the al-Mawasi area” on the Mediterranean coast “for your safety”.

A video verified by Al Jazeera showed the Israeli army dropping vast amounts of leaflets over residential areas in Deir el-Balah, notifying Palestinians of the order.

‘Nowhere else to go’

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said the area targeted by Israel is densely populated and it would be “impossible” for the affected residents to leave on short notice.

“Palestinians here are refusing to leave and say they are going to stay in their houses because even the areas designated as safe by the Israeli army have been targeted,” she said.

“Palestinians say they have nowhere else to go, and there is no space because most western areas or even al-Mawasi are full of people and tents with no more extra space for expansion. They are left with zero options.”

The Israeli military issued the warning as Israel and Hamas held indirect ceasefire talks in Qatar, but international mediators said there have been no breakthroughs.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that expanding Israeli military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas to negotiate, but negotiations have been stalled for months.

This month, the Israeli military said it controlled more than 65 percent of the Gaza Strip.

Most of Gaza’s population of more than two million people has been displaced at least once during the war, which is now in its 22nd month. Israel has repeatedly ordered Palestinians to leave or face attacks in large parts of the coastal enclave.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in January that more than 80 percent of the Gaza Strip was under unrevoked Israeli evacuation threats and many of their residents were living with starvation.

A 35-day-old baby in Gaza City and a four-month-old child in Deir el-Balah died of malnutrition at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital this weekend.

On Saturday, at least 116 Palestinians were killed, many of them aid seekers trying to get food from distribution sites run by the Israeli- and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

At least 900 Palestinians desperate to find food have been killed at the sites since the GHF began operating them in late May as an Israeli blockade has prevented food and other necessities from the UN and other aid groups from coming into Gaza.

The genocide has prompted Pope Leo XIV to denounce the “barbarity” of the war as he urged against the “indiscriminate use of force”.

“I once again ask for an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” Leo said during a prayer meeting near Rome on Sunday.

The attack comes shortly after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promises to increase Ukraine’s drone production.

A Ukrainian drone attack at an industrial plant in central Russia has killed three people and injured 35 others, a Russian regional governor has said.

Alexander Brechalov, head of the Udmurt Republic, said in a post on Telegram on Tuesday that the attack took place at a factory in Izhevsk city. Ten of the wounded were in a serious condition, he noted.

There was no immediate official comment from Kyiv. But a Ukrainian security official confirmed the attack, telling the news agency Reuters that the Kupol plant had been hit, with a fire breaking out as a result.

The facility, which produces air defence systems and drones for the Russian army, is located roughly 1,300km (800 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

If confirmed, the Ukrainian mission would be one of the deepest attacks of its kind inside Russia since the start of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion.

However, it is not as far as one Kyiv claimed last May, which reportedly hit an early-warning radar in the Russian city of Orsk, some 1,800km (1,120 miles) from Ukraine.

Speaking to the AFP news agency on Tuesday, an unnamed Ukrainian security service (SBU) official hailed the most recent drone mission.

“Each such special operation reduces the enemy’s offensive potential, disrupts military production chains and demonstrates that even deep in Russia’s rear, there are no safe zones for its military infrastructure,” they said in written comments.

The attack came a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would increase its drone production, following a surge in Russian drone attacks.

Moscow fired some 5,438 long-range drones at Ukraine in June, its highest monthly total yet, according to an analysis by AFP.

“The priority is drones, interceptor drones and long-range strike drones,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram late on Monday about Ukraine’s manufacturing drive.

The message followed a promise last month by Ukraine’s top military commander to improve the “scale and depth” of strikes on Russia.

In other developments, the Kremlin has denied the suggestion from one of United States President Donald Trump’s special envoys that it was deliberately stalling ceasefire talks.

Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Ukraine envoy, said on Monday, “Russia cannot continue to stall for time while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine.”

In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that Russia was “not interested in drawing out anything”.

A date for a third round of negotiations has yet to be agreed.

Meanwhile, a Russian-backed official in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk said it is now fully under the control of Moscow. Ukraine is yet to respond to the claim.

Three people have been killed and 35 taken to hospital following an attack by Ukraine on a factory in the city of Izhevsk – more than 1,000km (620 miles) from the border, Russian authorities say.

Of those injured ten had suffered serious injuries, the governor of Udmurtia Aleksandr Bechalov said, adding he had briefed President Vladimir Putin on the attack.

Drones reportedly targeted the Kupol Electromechanical Plant – a military factory which is said to produce Tor surface-to-air missile systems and radar stations.

The plant also specialises in the production of Osa air defence systems and has developed drones, according to Ukrainian media.

An Ukrainian official confirmed that two long-range drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck the Kupol plant from a distance of around 1,300 km (807 miles).

“Each such special operation reduces the enemy’s offensive potential, disrupts military production chains and demonstrates that even deep in Russia’s rear, there are no safe zones for its military infrastructure,” the source said in comments reported by Ukrainian media.

A video posted on social media and verified by the BBC showed an explosion on the roof of a building, followed by a large plume of black smoke rising over a factory-type chimney.

Russia’s civil aviation regulator Rosaviatsia imposed restrictions on operations at Izhevsk airport, before lifting them a few hours later.

This is second Ukrainian drone attack on the Kupol factory since November – although that strike had not resulted in any casualties.

For its part, Moscow continues to carry out attacks in Ukraine. At the weekend Russia launched a record 537 drones and missiles on various locations across the country, including Kyiv and the Western city of Lviv.

On Monday Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky granted the Hero of Ukraine award posthumously to an F-16 pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustymenko, who was killed while trying to repel the aerial attack.

On the battlefield, while Russia’s advance on the Sumy region seems to have stalled, Moscow appears to be targeting the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region. Unconfirmed reports in Russian media suggested Moscow’s forces took control of the first village in the region.

Two rounds of talks aimed at agreeing a ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow have taken place at the behest of US President Donald Trump since May, but have failed to produce tangible results.

Last week, President Putin said Russia was ready to hold a new round of peace negotiations although he said that the Russian and Ukrainian peace proposals were “absolutely contradictory”.

On Monday Zelensky again expressed scepticism of Putin’s intentions. “Putin has already stolen practically half a year from diplomacy… on top of the entire duration of this war,” the Ukrainian leader said.

“Russia is not changing its plans and is not looking for a way out of this war. On the contrary, they are preparing for new operations, including on the territory of European countries.”

US senior envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg echoed this on Monday, when he wrote on X that Russia could not “continue to stall for time while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine”.

Moscow swiftly pushed back, saying it was not “interested in stalling anything” and thanking the US for its support.

The N’Djamena peace accord, signed on April 19, 2025, between the government of the Central African Republic, the rebels from the Return, Rehabilitation, and Reclamation (3R) and the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), continues to face challenges due to repeated violations by parties involved.

The agreement aims to help reintegrate rebels into civilian life and to disband their movements, as outlined in the 2019 peace accord. However, the recent resurgence of violence in Nzakoundou caught the authorities off guard, highlighting their lack of preparedness for the disarmament process. 

On Saturday, June 28, heavily armed 3R rebels emerged in large numbers from the bush in Nzakoundou, Yeme council. Their overwhelming presence overshadowed the Central African Republic National Army (FACA) soldiers. Outnumbered, FACA soldiers had no choice but to retreat from Nzakoundou, fleeing to the bushes 15 kilometres away along the Paoua highway, leaving the village under the control of the 3R rebels. This retreat has instilled panic among the villagers, who are concerned that tensions may escalate if the rebels’ basic needs are unmet.

Meanwhile, in the Ouaka region, UPC rebels have initiated the disarmament process in Bokolobo, Maloum, Mbomou, and Nzacko. Motivated by promises of reintegration into the national army, UPC combatants voluntarily laid down their arms. However, their primary challenge is the lack of food and other essential supplies.

The situation is different in Yaloke, situated 225 kilometres from Bangui, the republic’s capital, where disarmed former Anti-Balaka militia led by General Jeudi have been complaining of the absence of food rations and access to water, a recurrent problem in the several sites earmarked for disarmament. At Moyo, the situation is particularly disquieting because the rebels who are still armed have been terrorising the population and taking whatever they need by force.

The Central African Republic is facing significant challenges with its disarmament and reintegration programme, which has been ongoing since 2017. According to President Touadera, this programme has successfully disarmed 5,000 combatants and dissolved nine armed groups. However, Moyo’s lack of cantonment zones and the necessary resources to support disarmed combatants hinders progress. 

This issue is further compounded by the ineffectiveness of the FACA soldiers, who cannot secure areas like Nzakoundou. The residents there are living in constant fear of violence, especially since 2023, when the 3R rebels set fire to multiple homes and killed civilians, prompting the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) to send troops to the village and its surrounding areas.

The departure of FACA soldiers has created a significant dilemma: If the rebels choose to lay down their arms, the state is expected to take responsibility for them. However, without access to food or opportunities for reintegration, these former combatants may resort to acts of banditry to survive, including nighttime robberies targeting local populations. This troubling trend is already evident in areas like Dawala, Thicka, and Sataigne and has the potential to escalate into a new source of violence. Such developments could undermine the progress achieved through the N’Djamena peace accord.

Chinese President Xi Jinping reached Kazakhstan on Monday to attend the second China–Central Asia Summit, a high-stakes diplomatic gathering aimed at deepening Beijing’s economic and strategic ties with the region.

The summit, which will be held on Tuesday in the Kazakh capital Astana, comes at a time when China is intensifying its outreach to Central Asian countries amid shifting global power alignments — and mounting tensions in neighbouring Iran, which is roiled in an escalating conflict with Israel.

The summit will bring together the heads of state from all five Central Asian nations — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — along with Xi.

The Astana summit also carries symbolic weight: it is the first time that the five Central Asian nations are holding a summit in the region with the leader of another country.

So, what is the importance of the China-Central Asia Summit? And is China battling both the United States and Russia for influence in the region?

What’s on Xi’s agenda in Astana?

On Monday, Xi was greeted by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and other senior officials at the airport in Astana. The Astana summit follows the inaugural May 2023 China–Central Asia Summit, which was held in Xi’an, the capital city of China’s Shaanxi province.

Xi is expected to be in Astana from June 16 to 18 and is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with Kazakhstan’s leaders on Monday before the summit on June 17.

At the summit, he is expected to deliver a keynote speech and “exchange views on the achievements of the China-Central Asia mechanism, mutually beneficial cooperation under the framework, and international and regional hotspot issues,” said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

The office of Kazakhstan’s president noted that both countries are “set to further strengthen bilateral ties” and Xi will also chair “high-level talks with President [Tokayev] focused on deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership”.

Tokayev, who has been in office since 2019, is a fluent Mandarin speaker and previously served as a diplomat in China.

Zhao Long, a senior research fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS), told Al Jazeera that Central Asian countries see their partnership with China as a deep, multifaceted cooperation grounded in shared strategic and pragmatic interests.

“The alignment with China helps Central Asian states enhance their regional stability, pursue economic modernisation, and diversify their diplomatic portfolios,” said Zhao. Where Central Asia has abundant energy resources, he said, China offers vast markets, advanced technology, and infrastructure expertise.

Last Friday, Lin Jian, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told a news briefing that establishing “the China-Central Asia mechanism was a unanimous decision among China and the five Central Asian countries, which dovetails with the region’s common desire to maintain stability and pursue high-quality development”.

Since China first formalised and chaired the China-Central Asia Summit in May 2023, Lin said, “China’s relations with Central Asian countries have entered a new era … injecting fresh impetus into regional development and delivering tangibly for the peoples of all six countries.”

“We believe through this summit, China and five Central Asian countries will further consolidate the foundation of mutual trust,” Lin added.

“During the summit, President Xi will also meet with these leaders and lay out the top-level plan for China’s relations with [the] five Central Asian countries,” said the spokesperson.

SIIS’s Zhao said Xi’s attendance at the second summit sends a clear message: “China places high strategic importance on Central Asia.”

What’s ‘C5+1’ – and is China racing the US for influence?

Experts are dubbing the China-Central Asia Summit as a C5+1 framework, because of the five regional nations involved.

The United States first initiated the concept of such a summit with all five Central Asian nations in 2015, under then-US President Barack Obama. But at the time, the conclave was held at the level of foreign ministers. Then-US Secretary of State John Kerry led the first meeting in September 2015 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

In January 2022, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual summit with the five Central Asian state heads, and then in June 2025, he invited them for a follow-up conclave in India.

Meanwhile, in 2023, Xi hosted the leaders in Xi’an. Four months later, then-US President Joe Biden hosted the C5 state heads on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York. It was the first time a US president met with Central Asian heads of state under this framework.

But current US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies could upset that outreach from Washington. Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have all been tariffed at 10 percent.

Trump initially imposed an even higher 27 percent tariff on imports from Kazakhstan, the region’s largest economy, though as with all other countries, the US president has paused these rates, limiting tariffs to a flat 10 percent for now.

China has cited these tariff rates to project itself as a more reliable partner to Central Asia than the US. At the meeting with the foreign ministers of the region in April, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticised unilateralism, trade protectionism, and “the trend of anti-globalisation [that] has severely impacted the free trade system”.

The US, Wang said, was “undermining the rule-based multilateral trading system, and destabilising the global economy”.

Why does Central Asia matter to China?

The region, rich in uranium, oil, and rare earth metals, has become increasingly important to China as a key corridor for trade with Europe. Subsequently, China has increased its engagement with Central Asian countries.

Xi, who has curtailed his foreign visits since the COVID-19 pandemic, is visiting Kazakhstan for the third time since 2020. He visited in 2022, and then again in 2024.

Central Asia is also a critical part of Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — a network of highways, railroads and ports connecting Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America — as a gateway to Europe.

Experts expect the BRI to figure prominently at the summit in Astana on Tuesday, with additional emphasis on collaboration in energy and sustainable development.

A planned $8bn railway connecting China’s Xinjiang region to Uzbekistan through Kyrgyzstan is likely to be on the agenda, the SIIS’s Zhao said. Construction on the project is scheduled to begin in July. Expected to be completed by 2030, the railway route will provide China with more direct access to Central Asia and reduce the three countries’ reliance on Russia’s transport infrastructure.

Additionally, Zhao said, the summit may feature agreements on reducing tariffs, streamlining customs procedures, and lowering non-tariff barriers to boost bilateral trade volumes.

How much does Central Asia depend on China?

A lot.

China is today the top trading partner of each of the five Central Asian republics.

• Kazakhstan imported goods worth $18.7bn from China and exported goods worth $15bn in 2023 — making up 30 percent of its total imports and 16 percent of exports.
• Tajikistan imported goods worth $3.68bn from China and exported goods worth $250m in 2023 — making up 56 percent of its total imports and 16 percent of exports.
• Kyrgyzstan imported goods worth $3.68bn and exported goods worth $887m in 2023 from China — constituting 29 percent of its total imports and 26 percent of exports.
• Uzbekistan imported goods worth $12.7bn and exported goods worth $1.82bn in 2023 from the world’s second-largest economy — representing 32 percent of its total imports and 6 percent of exports.
• Turkmenistan imported goods worth $957m and exported goods worth $9.63bn in 2023 from China — or 20 percent of its total imports and 62 percent of exports.

China is also ramping up its investments in the region. It has committed to an estimated $26bn in investments in Kazakhstan, for instance.

Is China replacing Russia in Central Asia?

It’s complicated.

Formerly parts of the Soviet Union, the five Central Asian republics have long belonged in Russia’s strategic sphere of influence. Millions of people from the five republics live and work in Russia, and since 2023, Moscow has become a supplier of natural gas to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which have faced energy shortages — even though Central Asia was historically a supplier of energy to Russia.

But though Russia remains a major economic force in the region, China has overtaken it as the largest trading partner of Central Asian republics over the past three years — a period that has coincided with Russia’s war on Ukraine. Some of that increased trade, in fact, is believed to be the outcome of China using Central Asia as a conduit for exports to Russia of goods that face Western sanctions.

Still, there are ways in which Russia remains the region’s preeminent outside ally. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — three of the region’s five nations — are part of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) — along with Russia, Armenia and Belarus. Like NATO, this bloc offers collective security guarantees to members. In effect, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have the cover of Russia’s protection if they are attacked by another nation — something that China does not offer.

OXNARD, Calif. — At 6 a.m. Wednesday, Juvenal Solano drove slowly along the cracked roads that border the fields of strawberry and celery that cloak this fertile expanse of Ventura County, his eyes peeled for signs of trouble.

An eerie silence hung over the morning. The workers who would typically be shuffling up and down the strawberry rows were largely absent. The entry gates to many area farms were shut and locked.

Still, Solano, a director with the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, felt relieved. Silence was better than the chaos that had broken out Tuesday when immigration agents raided fields in Oxnard and fanned out across communities in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties that grow a considerable portion of the state’s strawberries, avocados and celery.

The organization, part of a broader rapid-response network that offers support and counsel for workers targeted by immigration raids, was caught off guard when calls started pouring in from residents reporting federal agents gathering near fields. Group leaders say they have confirmed at least 35 people were detained in the raids, and are still trying to pin down exact numbers.

In the past week, Solano said, the organization had gotten scattered reports of immigration authorities arresting undocumented residents. But Tuesday, he said, marked a new level in approach and scope as federal agents tried to access fields and packinghouses. Solano, like other organizers, are wondering what their next move will be.

“If they didn’t show up in the morning, it’s possible they’ll show up in the afternoon,” Solano said. “We’re going to stay alert to everything that’s happening.”

While agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol showed up at food production sites from the Central Coast to the San Joaquin Valley, much of the activity centered on the Oxnard Plain. Maureen McGuire, chief executive of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, said federal agents visited five packing facilities and at least five farms in the region. Agents also stopped people on their way to work, she said.

In many cases, according to McGuire and community leaders, farm owners refused to grant access to the agents, who had no judicial warrants.

California, which grows more than one-third of the nation’s vegetables and more than three-quarters of its fruits and nuts, has long been dependent on undocumented labor to tend its crops. Though a growing number of farm laborers are migrants imported on a seasonal basis through the controversial H-2A visa program, at least half the state’s 255,700 farmworkers are undocumented immigrants, according to UC Merced research. Many have lived in California for years, and have put down roots and started families.

Juvenal Solano, with Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, said Tuesday’s raids in Ventura County farm fields marked a dramatic escalation in tactics.

(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)

Until this week, California’s agricultural sector had largely escaped the large-scale raids that the Department of Homeland Security has deployed in urban areas, most recently in Los Angeles and Orange counties. California farmers — many of them ardent supporters of Donald Trump — have seemed remarkably calm as the president vowed mass deportations of undocumented workers.

Many expected that Trump would find ways to protect their workforce, noting that without sufficient workers, food would rot in the fields, sending grocery prices skyrocketing.

But this week brought a different message. Asked about enforcement actions in food production regions, Tom Homan, Trump’s chief adviser on border policy, said growers should hire a legal workforce.

“There are programs — you can get people to come in and do that job,” he said. “So work with ICE, work with [U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services], and hire a legal workforce. It’s illegal to knowingly hire an illegal alien.”

Ventura County strawberry fields had far fewer workers Wednesday, a day after federal agents targeted the region for immigration raids.

(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)

California’s two U.S. senators, both Democrats, issued a joint statement Wednesday decrying the farm raids, saying that targeting farmworkers for deportation would undermine businesses and families.

“Targeting hardworking farmworkers and their families who have been doing the backbreaking work in the fields for decades is unjustified and unconscionable,” Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff said in their statement.

The California Farm Bureau also issued a statement, warning that continued enforcement would disrupt production.

“We want to be very clear: California agriculture depends on and values its workforce,” said Bryan Little, senior director of policy advocacy at the California Farm Bureau. “We’re still early in the season, with limited harvest activity, but that will soon ramp up. If federal immigration enforcement activities continue in this direction, it will become increasingly difficult to produce food, process it and get it onto grocery store shelves.”

Arcenio Lopez, executive director of MICOP, said he is especially concerned about the prospect of Indigenous workers being detained, because many cannot read or write in English or Spanish, and speak only their Indigenous languages. The organization’s leaders suspect that many of those detained Tuesday are Indigenous, and are rushing to find them before they sign documents for voluntary deportation that they don’t understand. They’re urging that anyone who gets arrested call their hotline, where they offer legal assistance.

Rob Roy, president of the Ventura County Agricultural Association, said he has been warning growers since November that this time would come and providing training on their legal rights. Many know to ask for search warrants, he said. But that still leaves undocumented workers vulnerable on their way to and from work.

“I think overall here, they’re fairly safe on the farms or the building,” Roy said. “But when they leave work, they’re very concerned.”

Elaine Yompian, an organizer with VC Defensa, said she is urging families to stay home, if possible, to avoid exposure.

“We actually told a lot of the families who contacted us, if you can potentially not work today, don’t go,” Yompian said, adding that they are able to provide limited support to families through donations they receive.

Families whose loved ones have been detained are struggling to understand what comes next, she said.

“People are terrified; they don’t know at what point they’re going to be targeted,” Yompian said. “The narrative that they’re taking criminals or taking bad people off the streets is completely false. They’re taking the working-class people that are just trying to get by.”

This article is part of The Times’ equity reporting initiative, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, exploring the challenges facing low-income workers and the efforts being made to address California’s economic divide.

June 2 (UPI) — A Trump-appointed judge in California on Monday blocked the Alien Enemies Act deportation of a Venezuelan migrant in the Los Angeles area, saying the administration failed to provide due process.

U.S. District Judge John Holcomb, who was nominated by President Donald Trump in 2019, issued a preliminary injunction to keep most Venezuelan migrants in central California, Los Angeles and Orange County from being deported under the 1798 law.

“The government is hereby preliminarily enjoined and restrained from removing or transferring out of this district any member of the putative class pursuant to the Proclamation pending further Order of the Court regarding the amount of notice and process that is due prior to removal,” Holcomb wrote.

The Alien Enemies Act allows the removal or deportation of migrants during an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” of the United States. Trump has argued that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua’s actions are a “predatory incursion.”

Holcomb’s ruling follows a complaint filed by Darin Antonio Arevalo Millan, a Venezuelan citizen currently being held at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Adelanto, Calif. Arevalo wanted the judge to order the government to provide at least 30 days’ notice before any deportation of Venezuelan citizens.

While the Trump administration told the court that Arevalo was not detained under the Alien Enemies Act, Holcomb ruled that Arevalo still “faces an imminent threat of removal.”

“Arevalo seeks to avoid being deported as an alien enemy without being afforded the opportunity to challenge that designation — not to avoid deportation altogether,” Holcomb wrote.

Judges in New York, Colorado and Texas have ruled that the president is misusing the Alien Enemies Act, while a judge in Pennsylvania ruled last month that Trump can use the law for alleged gang members if they are given enough notice for due process.

The U.S. Supreme Court also ruled last month that the Trump administration can revoke special legal protections for nearly 350,000 Venezuelan nationals living temporarily in the United States.

The Temporary Protection Status program is extended to migrants every 18 months, if they cannot live or work safely in their home country, due to war or natural disaster. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in February protections for certain migrants or violent gangs are not in the U.S. national interest.

The Slovak leader has repeatedly accused judges and prosecutors who probe his allies of political bias.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has criticised a judge who convicted the governor of the country’s central bank in a corruption case.

Reacting to the conviction of Petr Kazimir, his former finance minister, the combative premier suggested on Friday that the verdict was politically motivated, and that Specialised Criminal Court judge Milan Cisarik should be investigated for criminal acts.

Since returning to power in 2023, Fico has torn down police and prosecutor units set up to investigate corruption during his previous years in power between 2012 – 2020.

Kazimir was found guilty and fined 200,000 euros ($226,500) on Thursday for bribing a tax official during his tenure as finance minister in Fico’s previous government. Claiming that the longstanding charges were fabricated, he denied any wrongdoing and said that he plans to appeal.

“The judge’s decision raises the question whether it should have served political aims of the opposition to damage the ruling parties, because even a law faculty student must see fatal nonsense in the verdict,” the Slovak leader said on Thursday.

“I cannot shake off the feeling that it is justified to look at potential suspicion that the judge committed multiple criminal acts and at what the ruling was supposed to serve.”

The court did not respond to Fico’s remarks. The For Open Justice (ZOJ) NGO warned: “Questioning a specific judgment through public statements by members of the government can also be perceived as indirect political pressure on the judiciary.”

Revenge

Fico fell from power in 2020 amid the scandal over the 2018 assassination of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak. The new government set up special units to investigate a suspected network of corruption around the former PM and his inner circle.

Fico routinely complained that the measures were politically motivated. On returning to power in late 2023, he immediately began tearing up the units and amended the criminal code to lower punishments for corruption.

Critics have accused him of becoming obsessed with exacting revenge on those involved in probes against his circle.

Kazimir, was the first of Fico’s former ministers to stand trial when he first faced the court in April 2023 accused of paying a bribe of 48,000 euros ($54,360) in 2017-18 to the chief of the country’s tax office, in connection with an audit of a number of private companies.

His term at the head of the National Bank of Slovakia ends on June 1, but he will stay on until a replacement is appointed.

Benfica winger Angel di Maria will return to his boyhood club Rosario Central – 10 months after death threats forced him to backtrack on the same move.

The 37-year-old began his career at Rosario in 2005 and the Argentine top-flight club announced his return on Thursday.

“Our history together has more pages to write. Welcome home,” the Rosario-based club said alongside a video posted on X.

The 2022 World Cup winner spent two seasons with Rosario before moving to Europe with Benfica.

He went on to play more than 700 games in Europe for Benfica, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Paris St-Germain and Juventus.

Di Maria was close to rejoining Rosario as a free agent last summer but increasing drug-related violence in the region and a number of threats against him and his family ended his plans.

Speaking last July, Di Maria said: “There was a threat at my sister’s business, a box with a pig’s head and a bullet in the forehead, and a note that said that if I returned to [Rosario] Central, the next head was that of my daughter Pia.

“Those months were horrible. We could only sit there and cry each night over not being able to carry out that dream return.”

Di Maria has won 30 trophies in Europe – including league titles in three countries and the 2013-14 Champions League with Real – as well as the World Cup and two Copa America trophies with Argentina.

He rejoined Benfica for a second spell in 2023 and will leave the club after next month’s Club World Cup campaign in the United States.

New data has revealed the “unprecedented reversal” of trans rights in Europe and Central Asia.

On 13 May, the Trans Europe and Central Asia (TGEU) organisation released its Trans Rights & Map 2025 report, which “shows country-specific requirements for legal gender recognition, protections for trans asylum seekers, hate crime and speech laws, and more.”

For the first time in its 13-year history, the report revealed that setbacks in human rights for trans people across Central Asia and Europe now outweigh progress.

Out of the 54 countries in the aforementioned regions, only 39 countries have legal or administrative measures in place that make legal recognition of gender available to trans people. Of those select countries, 24 require a mental health diagnosis, 12 demand sterility and 12 countries base legal gender recognition procedures on self-determination.

In regard to trans asylum seekers, only 27 countries out of the 54 reviewed offer explicit international protection on the grounds of gender identity.

When analysing hate speech and crime, the report revealed that 24 countries have laws in place that prohibit hate crimes against trans people, with 16 of those territories being European Union member states.

Regarding non-discrimination practices, only 20 of the 27 EU member states protect against discrimination in employment based on gender identity.

Of the 27 EU member states, 17 protect against discrimination in access to goods and services on the grounds of gender identity, while only 15 protect against housing discrimination based on gender identity.

Lastly, Iceland and Malta are the only two countries that have effectively depathologised trans identities, and 10 out of the 54 reviewed states prohibit conversion practices on the grounds of gender identity.

“The data confirms what trans people have been saying and feeling it. It shows a historically low amount of progress and historically high levels of stagnation,” TGEU senior research officer Freya Watkins said in a statement.

“In 2025, we saw more than twice as much regression as progress on our Map. This marks the first time in the 13-year history of the project when clearly more rights have been taken away than have been gained.”

TGEU Executive Director Ymania Brown echoed similar sentiments, calling on the EU to “actively defend trans people’s dignity and human rights by adopting an ambitious EU LGBTIQ Strategy.

“Despite the unmistakable deterioration of the situation for trans people, many political leaders halt progress and recoil from solidarity action–– as if this could stop the attack. The opposite is true. Only going forward will stop the attack on our rights and our value system,” Brown said.

“How the EU responds to this threat within its own borders sets the tone globally. In Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, Human rights protections are visibly eroding. This is a critical moment. Europe can defend or it can lead. But it cannot look the other way. Dignity is not optional. Equality is not negotiable. And most important of all, freedom, is not for the few.”

The recent report comes at a time when trans people worldwide are facing increased scrutiny and attacks from politicians and conservative figures worldwide.

From the UK Supreme Court’s rulling excluding trans women from the legal definition of womanhood to the 47th president of the United States issuing several anti-trans executive orders, the rights of trans people are being dismantled from every corner.

To view the entire 2025 Trans Rights & Map, click here.

In a world trying to erase LGBTQIA+ stories, we keep writing them. Join our mission as shareholders in Gay Times and help us fight for your rights. Find out more at investors.gaytimes.com.

Musa Murjanatu, 40, was once a thriving trader in Niger State, North-Central Nigeria, where terrorists have taken roots for clandestine operations. As a prosperous merchant known for food supply in the Bassa area of Shiroro, Murjanatu has not only lost her home, but also her economic power, wallowing in penury in a displacement camp.

With almost two decades in the consumer goods business, she had built a reputation as a hard-working woman who could transform modest capital into a flourishing enterprise. Her home, a large compound in Bassa,  was always filled with the laughter of family members and relatives who often visited. Three years ago, everything changed.

“I left my home in Bassa due to terrorist attacks,” Murjanatu said. “Whenever they attack us, we run uphill and return two or three days after they have finished committing their atrocities. When it became unbearable, we fled, leading to our displacement. Some fled to Erena, we came to Kuta, some to Gwada, Charagi, Ilori, Gunu, and some are currently in Minna.”

Her once-thriving business was reduced to ashes when terrorists stormed Bassa, shooting sporadically, setting homes ablaze, kidnapping residents, and looting whatever they could. She fled with only the clothes on her back, walking for days alongside other survivors to reach Kuta, where a temporary displacement camp had been established in a central primary school.

“I arrived in Kuta without my belongings because I had just taken my bath when they invaded our community. I only had a wrapper on when we started running. When we reached Gurmana [a 10 km distance from Bassa], people were kind enough to help us with clothes to cover up properly. Then we got help and came down to Kuta,” she revealed.

The lives of Murjanatu and thousands of other women and children have been flipped by the escalating wave of terror attacks by armed groups in the agrarian communities in Shiroro. In the past three years, she has lost count of the number of close and distant relatives claimed by gruesome terror attacks.

“I have lost people. My brothers and their children were slaughtered; my in-laws were killed. I’ve lost over 70 close relatives and direct family members to terrorism. I sleep and wake up with a heavy heart,” she cried.

She is just one among the thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) struggling to survive in neglected displacement camps in the Shiroro Local Government Area.  

In 2020, the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) revealed that only 4,030 people were displaced across four local government areas of the state. As of 2024, the figure has increased to 21,393.

As of June 2024, a total of 1.3 million residents have been displaced across the North-Central and Northwest regions of Nigeria, as data from the International Organisation for Migration’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) has shown.

The data encompasses over two thousand households in the states of Benue, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Niger who have been displaced by either communal clashes, terrorism, or kidnapping, among other issues.

While the reasons for the displacements vary considerably across the affected states, the report indicates that terrorism, in the form of killing and kidnapping, is the causal factor of the displacement of thousands of people in Niger State. 

The forgotten souls

The Kuta IDP camp, located in the headquarters of the Shiroro LGA, is now a sanctuary for thousands of displaced women and children from Bassa, Allawa, Manta, Gurmana, and other communities ravaged by insurgent attacks. What was initially set up as a temporary shelter has become a permanent residence for many, with no clear path to resettlement.

The displacement crisis in Shiroro LGA is as much a humanitarian tragedy as it is an economic and social disaster. Many of the displaced seeking refuge in the central primary school in Kuta lack access to basic amenities, such as food, sanitation, and medical services, which are woefully inadequate.

It was only recently that the Niger State governor, Umar Bago, revealed that plans are underway to build permanent structures in each of the affected areas and close down the temporary ones presently occupied by displaced persons. The proposed shelters will also serve as temporary homes “pending when the insurgency will end in the affected areas”.

When HumAngle visited the camp in March this year, the conditions were dire—overcrowded classrooms, insufficient food supply, and inadequate medical care. Sources revealed that they have been abandoned without any state intervention for over six months now.

The desk officer in the central camp, Yusuf Bala, revealed that when the camp was initially set up here, there was a rapid response from both the state and local government. Now, things are different.

“They sleep in classrooms. Due to the excessive heat we are experiencing, we have decongested the camp. Some are leaving the camp. We have about 734 households [women] here in this camp. We have 1,113 children, 204 men, because most of them are on the move. We are managing over 2,000 displaced persons here in this camp.

“Currently, the situation is dire. There are issues, and we no longer receive food and medical supplies. These interventions have stopped coming in. We have written to the local and state governments. Since the beginning of this year, nothing tangible has come into this camp from the state ministry of humanitarian affairs. It has always been unfulfilled promises,” he said.

Bala, who has been managing the camp since 2019, added that until recently, when the erstwhile commissioner of health visited the camp with some heart doctors from Greece to conduct checkups and brought some food items and medical supplies to support them, “interventions don’t come in regularly.” 

“As you can see, we are in fasting period, and nothing has been brought to the camp,” the desk officer said. “We only have a classroom designated as a clinic. The plain truth is we only have a mattress in it; there are no medical supplies. The personnel only attend to minor cases  and give out prescriptions to those who can afford to buy the medication.”

Ahmed Almustapha, a son of the late district head of Rumache, killed by terrorists, also confirmed that displaced widows and orphans in the camp have been abandoned. “Children are hungry, women are traumatised, and there is no end in sight to their suffering. These people feel completely abandoned,” Almustapha said.

“There are a lot of widows now taking care of their children by themselves without any support. Some have to beg to be fed. We don’t even know what the government is doing. We have lost a lot, and there is nothing that is being done about it.”

“As I speak with you now, I can’t remember when they last brought food for our people in the IDP camp here. We are appealing to the government to do the needful and come to our aid,” he noted.

Raising 12 children single-handedly

In one corner of the camp, under the shade of a classroom, sits 67-year-old Hauwa Zakari Mashuku, a grandmother who now shoulders the responsibility of raising twelve grandchildren. One of her children is among the hundreds slaughtered in numerous midnight raids in their homes.

For Hauwa, in the slightest of thoughts, this insecurity is something that wouldn’t last, but it has been eight years since she visited her community. The best she can do is to give a mental picture of how things were in the past.

“My husband and his brother were kidnapped while they were running to safety. When they attacked our village, I jumped into a river to protect my life, even though I couldn’t swim. As we speak, I have high blood pressure all from this insecurity,” she revealed.

With no source of income and limited intervention, Hauwa is overwhelmed by the burden of providing for her grandchildren. “Our businesses have collapsed. The grains we had in the village before running away have either been stolen or set ablaze. How can you have peace of mind?” she lamented.

Her grandchildren, ranging from ages three to sixteen, spend their days in hunger, scattered across the Kuta community to gather what they can, sometimes at the mercy of handouts and the pieces of firewood they gather to sell for their survival in the camp. 

For many displaced women like Hauwa, security remains a major concern, leaving them with the fear of returning to their villages as insurgents still control vast areas. Those who have summoned the courage to return are left with difficult choices: to farm and share their crops with terrorists, become informants, or pay taxes.

The displacement dilemma

“Our children and younger generation are not in schools; they are scattered in IDP camps,” Dangana Yusuf, a displaced resident of Bassa, told HumAngle. “When illiteracy is high, it can be catastrophic. We can see how it is fuelling terrorism today.”

Among the displaced are thousands of children who have been forced out of school due to the conflict. Many have witnessed unspeakable horrors—the killing of parents, the burning of their homes, and the trauma of displacement. Without education, their futures hang in the balance.

Almustapha, a displaced local and humanitarian worker, expressed his anguish over the bleak future that lies ahead. “The thought of our future is heartbreaking,” he lamented. “Once operational, schools are now shut down due to the attacks, leaving over 10,000 children in these communities without access to education. The consequences are alarming – an uneducated generation spells disaster.”

Murjanutu also stated: “It has been five years since anyone attended school in Bassa. These terrorists have put a stop to education in our community. No one is willing to risk their child going to school and getting kidnapped. Here in Kuta, we desire for our children to attend school, but we can’t even afford to feed them. How, then, can we send them to school?”

As for Salamatu Abdullahi, another displaced mother of seven who has only spent about two years in the camp, school is not an option for now as her priority remains how to feed her children, who have been forced to be breadwinners at a very tender age.

“Five of my children have headed to a mining site to get something so that we can feed ourselves. Sometimes they get lucky, sometimes they don’t. We have lots of orphans; we also have widows currently mourning their husbands. We are here in this camp without food or a form of business,” Salamatu said regretfully, noting that, “If our children are in school, how can we survive? You can’t even study properly without food in your stomach. That is why we don’t even talk about sending them to school.”

Breadwinners have been reduced to beggars. Many displaced women in Kuta were once traders, farmers, and skilled artisans. Now, they rely on handouts. Without financial aid, they cannot rebuild their lives. 

Attempts by some to start small businesses outside the camp—selling roasted corn, firewood, or sachet water—are met with challenges, including a lack of capital. 

“I left a lot behind. I had two grinding engines; they were burnt. One of my sons is a tailor; his shop was burnt down by terrorists. I sell awara [tofu]. I fry buns up to 10 measures daily. But now there’s nothing. Whenever I remember how things were and how it is now, I feel bad,” Salamatu added.

“If I can’t get some sort of support to start a business and take care of my children, I will be happy. Above all, I wish to go back home because my home is better than living here.”

For now, women like Murjanatu and Salamatu depend on meagre food rations often distributed by the few humanitarian agencies who drop by. In most cases, they rely on handouts and the petty services they render in markets. 

“I barely get ₦1,000 ($0.65) daily to take care of myself and six children; now, I don’t know where my next meal will come from,” Murja said, with her voice laced with grief.

They told HumAngle that some children in the displacement camps spread into the market in Kuta while school activities are ongoing to pick up spilt grains—rice, maize, and millet—from the pans of sellers and bring them home for their parents to sort and prepare a meal for their hungry stomachs. “When they bring it, we then pick out the stones before cooking it. We are living in bondage,” she added.

The insecurity has had devastating effects on the displaced local population, and their current situation in the Kuta IDP camp presents a plethora of challenges, especially the abandonment and lack of access to education.

“We want to go back home and take care of our children. Living in such conditions can push a child to steal or engage in prostitution. When a young girl is hungry and her parents cannot afford to feed her, she can be easily deceived to engage in immoralities just to fill up her stomach,” Murja lamented

As the sun sets over the Shiroro Dam, casting its reflection on the still waters of the Kaduna River, these women displaced by insecurity want “to go back home and live our lives as farmers.” Until then, their silent struggles may be another forgotten chapter in the annals of history.

This is the third of a three-part investigation on the human costs of the infiltration of Boko Haram elements in Niger State. Additional reporting by Ibrahim Adeyemi.

Despite the recent peace accord signed by the government of the Central African Republic (CAR) and two rebel groups, the warring parties have continued attacking each other, with unarmed civilians at the receiving end.

The latest clashes occurred on May 15, 2025, between the CAR soldiers and dozens of rebels around the Mambere prefecture of the country. Events leading to the clashes remain unknown, but local media reports reveal that a soldier was injured during the fighting.

The incident came 24 hours after another attack in the town of Ouadda, situated 204 kilometres from Bria in the Haute-Kotto prefecture. There, the armed group, Rassemblement de la Nation Centrafricaine (PRNC), carried out an offensive which resulted in the death of five soldiers and two civilians.

The CAR authorities have not made any declaration concerning the incidents, and the exact circumstances of the clashes and the details of the armed groups involved remain unclear.

The country has been embroiled in a brutal civil war since 2013, when the Séléka, a predominantly Muslim rebel coalition, seized power and ousted President François Bozizé. This marked the beginning of a devastating conflict that has ravaged the country, causing widespread displacement, hunger, and human rights abuses.

Historical grievances played a significant role in the conflict’s escalation. The Séléka rebels accused the government of failing to abide by previous peace agreements, which led to their takeover. Religious and ethnic tensions between the mostly Muslim Séléka rebels and the predominantly Christian Anti-balaka militias have fueled the conflict. 

Over 737,000 Central Africans are registered as refugees, and 632,000 are internally displaced. Half of the population lacks access to sufficient food, and the country ranks worst on the Global Hunger Index. The healthcare system is barely functioning, with a shortage of skilled health workers and medical supplies. The ongoing conflict has had a profound impact on the country’s development and its people. The situation remains complex, with multiple factors contributing to the crisis.