CAR farmers struggle to recover from devastation
BESSAN: With the year's main planting season just weeks away, many in the Central African Republic (CAR) have been left desperately ill-equipped by months of conflict. In the charred village of Bessan, to the west of the country, the concerns are typical: a dire lack of seeds, tools and manpower.
Bessan, a village in northwest CAR, suffered considerable destruction at the hands of Seleka rebels. (Photo: Nicholas Long/IRIN)
Here many houses are roofless with fire-blackened walls; even intact homes lack furniture, food or tools.
"The Seleka stole our machetes, hoes, rakes and watering cans and even our beds and other belongings," one of the villagers, Veronique Nabata, told IRIN, referring to the alliance of mainly Muslim rebel groups that swept to power in a coup in March 2013 and for the next few months committed atrocities in many parts of the country.
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