In February 2017, Bambari was declared a “city free of weapons” by the UN forces in CAR (MINUSCA). Afterwards, the town lived a period of relative lull. Some fighting kept on happening but only on the outskirts of the city, transforming Bambari into a temporary safe place for the IDPs coming for nearby communities. But everything changed in May, when the town was hit again by the conflict.

Fighting erupted in Bambari on May 14th 2018, following clashes between different armed groups. Hundreds of people sought refuge at the hospital supported by MSF and in other locations, such as the various IDP sites located inside and on the outskirts of the city. Some people also fled to the other side of the Ouaka River (sometimes swimming across), trying to find refuge in areas like the Kidjigra neighbourhood.

For weeks, the town was in a state of war, with armed groups not respecting the status of medical facilities and blocking the access to health facilities. Three months after this upsurge of violence, the situation in Bambari is slowly getting back to normal. Daily shootings have stopped but the population is still living in fear of indiscriminate attacks. One of the main consequences of the return of armed groups to the city is the rise of criminality, which has become a daily reality for the its inhabitants.

MSF is present in Bambari since 2015, supporting the hospital as well as several health centres and health inside the city and on its outskirts.