Central African Republic

Getting into the Central African Republic was no easy task. I first hired a guide to arrange my visa, but after more than a week of delays and excuses, it still hadn’t been approved. Thankfully, I found another guide at the last minute who had strong government connections, and he managed to get my visa approved within a day. From the moment I landed in the capital, Bangui, it was obvious I had arrived somewhere very different. United Nations aircraft lined the airport, and the Russian Wagner Group, a private military organization brought in by the government to help fight rebel groups, had a visible presence throughout the city.

I took a day trip to the stunning Boali Falls, but the most striking part of my visit was driving around Bangui itself. The tension there was palpable. When the civil war broke out in 2013, the city became effectively divided between predominantly Muslim and Christian communities. My guide explained that, at the height of the violence, crossing from one side into the other could be a death sentence. Pope Francis visited in 2015 and made the symbolic decision to cross into the Muslim neighborhood, publicly calling for peace and reconciliation. His visit became a powerful moment of unity in a city deeply divided by conflict, though many of the underlying hostilities were still present when I visited eight years later.

One moment, in particular, stayed with me. While driving through Bangui, a Wagner military vehicle pulled up in front of us. Standing on top was a masked mercenary gripping a mounted machine gun as he scanned the streets around him. It was a shocking sight and a stark reminder that I was traveling through one of the world’s most unstable countries. I couldn’t help but feel the weight of just how fragile peace can be.