A wave of looting and violence has forced Muslim shopkeepers to flee the Central African Republic in huge numbers, leaving locals to confront a new menace of food scarcity and soaring prices.
"Now the hard part begins," said Herve Songo, a teacher in the capital, Bangui. "Now that all the Muslim shops have been looted, ransacked and destroyed, prices have increased substantially."
The cost of everyday items like cooking gas, flour and sugar have gone up by a quarter in a matter of weeks, he added.
That is, if there is anything left to buy. The Sambo market was once the place where shopkeepers from across the capital came to stock up their stores. It is now "a shadow of its former self", said Assise Kayolo, a Christian shopkeeper. "The Muslims are gone, so there is nothing left in the market."
A few Muslims have continued to work, in constant fear for their lives. "They lynched a Muslim man here three weeks ago. They beheaded him with an axe and cut him into pieces," said Moomin Abdallah Ahmed, a Muslim trader in the Lakouanga suburb. "I have a few young people who protect me and allow me to open my store. They don't ask me for anything, but you can't be ungrateful with people who you owe your life to."
The impoverished country has plunged into sectarian violence since a coup by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel group in March 2013. Rogue fighters attacked the Christian majority, who responded by forming vigilante groups.
Thousands have been killed in the unrest and about a quarter of the country's 4.6 million people have been displaced. Reprisal attacks by mostly Christian militia groups, known as "anti-balaka" (anti-machete), against Muslims and those accused of supporting the former rebel regime have prompted many Muslims to flee the country.
With the mass exodus, the Bangui economy has gone into rapid decline, made worse by violence on the roads into the capital that has all but cut the city off from outside supplies.
A recent statement by Oxfam and Action Against Hunger highlighted the increased threat of food shortages in a country where 1.3 million are already in dire need of food.
The price of cassava, a local staple, has shot up 20% since November, the charities said, while wholesalers have reported a drop in sales of 85% to 95% over the past two months as a result of collapsing incomes.
French and African forces on the ground have made it a priority to reopen supply routes to Bangui, particularly from neighbouring Cameroon.
General Martin Tumenta Chomu, commander of the African Union-led Misca forces, said on 8 February that the trade corridor between Bangui and the border town of Gamboula had reopened, with 115 vehicles arriving under military escort. "The route is secure enough to allow all drivers to return," he added. "There is no more reason for trucks to stop using it." Misca will escort three convoys a week between Bangui and Cameroon.
The closure of the road had also threatened operations by the World Food Programme, with some trucks stranded at the border since 6 January.
With the route now open, WFP was able to deliver more than 600 tonnes of supplies to Bangui last weekend, according to a WFP spokesman.
On Wednesday, the UN agency launched one of its largest emergency food airlifts, starting with a delivery in Bangui of 80 tonnes of rice. In the coming weeks, WFP aims to fly approximately 1,800 tonnes of food from Cameroon to the country.
