It was dusk when armed Seleka rebels dragged the teenager from the road leading north toward Kobe. They pulled her into the jungle and raped her for several hours. Her friend, Lisa Moussa, 17, was more fortunate. As soon as she saw the rebels, she began running. They tried to kill her, shooting until she stumbled and fell. The gang caught her and frogmarched her to a police station and threatened to rape her until her father paid 6,000 Central African francs for her release.
Moussa lives in Kaga-Bandoro, a town deep in the jungle of the CAR, which was tipped into anarchy when the Seleka rebels overthrew the government and seized power four months ago. The United Nations has declared the entire 4.6 million population to be victims and the country among its most dangerous destinations. Its refugee agency has called it the "most neglected crisis in the world." Medecins Sans Frontieres warns that the country had been "abandoned to its fate."
Although lootings and killings have been widely documented in the capital, Bangui, reports detailing the extent of the atrocities being committed in the country's vast hinterland remain scant, particularly in the north, where the Seleka uprising began.