Food shortage could drive CAR deeper into crisis

2014-02-12 197

While this market appears normal in the Central African Republic, residents assure its prices are not.

SOUNDBITE) (French) SYLVANUS KOSSINGOU, SPICE VENDOR, SAYING:

"We live in a war-like situation, so everything is expensive, everything is blocked. Nothing works. The trucks that come from Cameroon, the cattle farmers who bring the beef from Chad, everything has stopped. There's nothing, so we are forced to live through this situation as it is."

Sectarian violence is forcing dozens of Muslim traders and drivers to either flee, or not enter the country at all.

Now with only small amounts of pork, vegetables and peanuts, food supplies are growing scarcer and more expensive.

The international aid organization, Oxfam, now fears what will come next.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) STEVE COCKBURN, OXFAM REGIONAL CAMPAIGNS AND POLICY MANAGER, SAYING:

"If nothing's done the situation will get much, much worse in Central African Republic. Already there's 1.3 mill