Disarming hearts and minds: do humanitarians have a role?

 

“We will not stop until all Muslims leave Boda. If this is what it takes, we will poison the wells to kill them all”. We were all sitting with several community leaders in a spacious, high-roofed room at the church of the Central African Republic city of Boda, listening astonished to these words from one community leader, while accompanying a high-level visit from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Next to the speaker was an old, poker faced European priest, calmly looking at the bare stone floor in front of him, his long, wrinkled face showing tiredness but also determination. He did not blink once. Outside, a slow, cold rain had been falling for days on end.

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