Bangui Today: The Central African Crisis

On the banks of the Ubangi River, Bangui hosts the Notre-Dame Cathedral and a small but lively ethnographic museum dedicated to the cultures of the Central African Republic.

Not far from the capital are the Boali waterfalls, among the most suggestive in central Africa, fed by the same river that crosses the city.

Since 2013 the country has been marked by a conflict between the Séléka rebel coalition and anti-Balaka militias, which has caused thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons.

A United Nations peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, has been present in the country since 2014 to protect civilians, but armed groups continue to control vast rural areas outside the capital.

Bangui itself has experienced periods of relative calm alternated with new waves of tension, often linked to electoral deadlines and the presence of foreign forces in the country.

Western governments continue to advise against any travel to the Central African Republic, citing the risk of kidnapping and sudden fighting even near the capital.

In a pacified setting, a traveler could visit the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the ethnographic museum, and spend a day at Boali Falls, nestled in the Central African forest.

The lasting end of conflict remains a distant prospect, as does the possibility of genuine tourism in this still little-known corner of Africa.