Cordaid has decided to send back part of its expatriate staff to the Central African Republic and to progressively resume its activities. “The situation remains tense, but it is possible to work as long as you take all possible security measures”, says Philippe Adapoe, Cordaid’s French-Togolese country director in Bangui.

Cordaid’s decision to temporarily freeze part of its programs was taken after our office had been heavily looted during armed clashes that took the lives of dozens of civilians and displaced thousands. Adapoe was one of the first to go back. Q&A with our country director in Bangui, about adapting to insecurity, about the need to continue, about upcoming presidential elections and next week’s visit of Pope Francis to the CAR.

What led Cordaid to evacuate its international staff and to suspend part of its programs?

“First, the levels of insecurity in Bangui were too high for internationals to do their job. Second, our office in Bangui was looted completely. This meant we had no functional space to operate in, no office facility, we couldn’t use our cars, many data were missing. It took us 2 weeks to retrieve the most valuable data and to restore our office.

Now, we are resuming our activities. What exactly does that mean?

For 2 weeks, until October 15, we did stop program activities that were implemented by our expatriate staff. But all the work carried out by our 90 Central African nationals and all of our partner organizations have never been suspended. Thus our substantial health program was never actually suspended. On October 23 our expatriate security expert and myself went back to assess the situation. We have increased our expatriate staff up to 6 now and until the elections we will not increase that number.

Cordaid offices in the CAR have been looted and attacked twice over the past few years. What can we do to prevent this?

At the moment authorities and security forces do not fully control the situation. No one can prevent tensions from flaring up. Working in conflict-affected areas means you have to accept risks. We can and do take all precautionary measures to minimize these risks and to protect our staff and our assets. This goes from scaling up our security systems with stronger doors, barbed wire, respecting curfews, travelling by pair, being extremely alert. The main threats always occur when you’re going from one place to another. Nobody travels without respecting security regulations. By the way, international staff still cannot travel by land to our offices in the provinces. We travel by air, using UN flights.
After the clashes you and others have assessed the security situation on the ground and you have evaluated the way we cope with high insecurity situations. What did you learn?

Two lessons. First, our programs need to be less dependent on expatriate staff. Increasing the capacities and responsibilities of our local staff and our local partners and by relying even more on them than we already do, is the best way to make ourselves less vulnerable and to better assure the continuation of our programs.

Second, we have to accept that insecurity in the CAR is there to stay for the coming years. We are used to work in these conditions. But we have to further increase the flexibility of our working habits. Insecurity might make it impossible for days to provide humanitarian assistance, but as soon as there is a green light – which is hard to predict – you must be ready to jump to the occasion. Delivering in very tight time slots, at short notice and under extreme pressure, this will increasingly be our modus operandi.
We are progressively resuming our activities. Given the massive humanitarian needs, what are our priorities?

There are more than 400.000 people who have been displaced over the last 2 years. Recent clashes caused thousands of people to leave their homes in and around Bangui. Our first priority is to assist them. And if the security context allows it, we can resume 100% of our program activities within in a week. The lootings did not diminish our capacity to operate and implement. We have retrieved our data and restored our office. Our networks are intact. And like I said, important parts of our work, like our health program, never stopped.

Next week pope Francis intends to visit the CAR. What does it mean for the country?

I hope he comes. If tensions do not flare up, he might. It’s important. Pope Francis is extremely popular, also among non-Christians. He brings hope and increases the exposure and attention to a country and a conflict that is largely forgotten by the world and that is confronted with donor fatigue and political fatigue. His visit will be welcomed by a population that is wounded and exhausted by extreme poverty and brutal violence. And his visit will inspire us, aid workers, to continue our work, call for more international political and financial support for the CAR and to stress that military force alone, though needed, will not bring peace to this country. Social dialogue and the fight against impunity are equally important.

Presidential elections are planned to take place on December 27th. Everybody holds its breath and hopes electoral violence can be prevented. What do you think will happen?

There are many scenarios. The elected president might have the support of the majority, but not the full support of the international community to build the foundations for the rule of law and thus for peace. Or the elected person, will not be elected fairly, not represent his people, but will get the support of the international community. Neither of these scenarios will be conducive to stability and peace.
Rule of law can only become a reality in the CAR if it is built from the inside, not from the outside. The preferred scenario is having a president who is fairly elected, represents the majority, re-unites conflicting populations and is fully supported by the international community. This is a first and conditional step towards peace and stability. Let’s just hope for the third scenario.