Fleeing attack, Centrafricans try to 'survive till help arrives'
In a makeshift tent covered in a torn tarp, Zakaria Hassan tried to make his baby son more comfortable after they fled fighting near the Central African Republic's border with Sudan.
Lying on a mat, the eight-month-old infant slept fitfully, his forehead burning up with a high temperature.
"He's been sick for a few days. I don't have any medicine to give him," Hassan said.
He was forced to grab his children and a handful of belongings and run after fierce clashes broke out in Am-Dafock, a town on the Central African Republic (CAR) side of the border.
The strategic area regularly faces incursions by armed groups on both sides.
On June 30, fighters of the Alliance for Patriotic Renewal (ASP), a CAR armed rebel group that includes foreign mercenaries, launched an assault on the country's armed forces at Am-Dafock in the northeastern CAR.
The country has suffered a succession of civil wars and authoritarian rulers since independence from France in 1960.
The unrest has eased, though feuds persist between armed groups and the government in some regions.
"The rebels arrived, firing all over the place. Houses were burning. We realised that if we stayed, we might die," Hassan, who comes from the nearby village of Agroumaye, said.
The family wasted no time and was soon headed for Birao, the main town in Vakaga prefecture, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) away.
"We thought we'd be back a few days later. Today, we have nothing left," the father said.
'Live with dignity'
Once in Birao they found safety but little else.
The site where they settled is near a camp that for months has hosted thousands of Sudanese refugees, who have fled the war raging between Sudan's army and paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023.
"When it rains, everything gets wet. We have little to eat and the children are getting ill," Hassan said.
"We are asking for medical care, tarps, latrines and water. We just want to live with dignity," he added.
In shelters cobbled together from odds and ends, families tried to piece daily life back together.
Women prepared food under a tree, as children played between the tents.
A man was stretched out on a mat, unable to get up.
"That's my older brother," Nassir, in his twenties who also fled the Am-Dafock attack, said.
"He's suffered from knee problems for a long time. When we were fleeing, he had difficulty walking. Since we arrived, he hasn't received any care," he added.
Nassir described the panic after the shooting erupted.
"People were running in every direction. I was afraid of being killed or of being forced to join the rebels. So we fled," he said.
"We are alive but we don't know what tomorrow has in store for us," he added.
'Worrying situation'
No official toll has been released for the Am-Dafock clashes.
All those who escaped spoke of the shooting, the fires and the people spread across the roads as they fled.
"We saw people falling. We ran without looking back," one said, on condition of anonymity.
On Tuesday, the special criminal court for the Central African Republic said it would conduct a preliminary assessment with a view to opening an investigation into the attack.
Even before the new arrivals, nearly 22,000 Sudanese refugees had already descended on Birao.
"We face a worrying humanitarian situation because of the events in Am-Dafock," William Chemaly, the UN refugee agency's representative in the CAR, told AFP.
"The displaced need shelter, food and medicine," he said.
"But a return to calm remains the most important thing so that there is no longer any risk for the civilian population," Chemaly added.
After the clashes, authorities stepped up security in Birao, backed up by the UN Mission in the Central African Republic.
Hassan said the military presence was reassuring -- but not enough.
"We need care, food and a place where our children can live," he said.
Regional governor Thierry Evariste Binguinendji, who visited Am-Dafock this week, said the fighting had caused much destruction but the town was now secure.
He said the government was continuing to deploy soldiers in several border areas.
"We survived the fighting," Hassan said cuddling his young son, who briefly opened his eyes before going back to sleep.
"Now we just hope to survive until help arrives."