HUMANS

In a war-torn country like the CAR, brothers and sisters, Christians and Muslims are pitted against one another. The chance that a small incident can escalate into violence or a resumption of conflict, is very real. Bangassou, a town in the south of the CAR, is struggling to keep peace in their region after the Seleka rebels had occupied it.
Laypeople, politicians, priests, Muslim leaders and civic/cultural organizations each use their own strategy to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control. 
In this void between normalcy and war, the people of Bangassou struggle to carry on.
For some time this fragile calm has been maintained; the residents of Bangassou have spared themselves from the cycle of retributive violence which has cursed so many other communities in their country. 

Unfortunately, since the Anti-Balaka rebels entered Bangassou in May 2017, the situation has deteriorated and the peaceful town has been caught up in the conflict.

 

Together with Stephan Van Diest, I visited Bangassou to make this series. Because of the volatile security in the country, we entered Bangassou by pirogue after driving 400 km through the jungle of Congo on motorbikes.

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2015

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CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE WEBSITE: BALANCING ON THE ROPE OF PEACE  with the full story (currently in Dutch)

 

Texts made by Stephan Van Diest.

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The series received a golden award at PX3 Paris category Press/Other.

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The series was exhibited at Barrobjectif in Barro - France , the Sint Jacobs church in Ghent - Belgium and KIPF foto festival in Kolkata - India.