Starved bodies and emaciated faces are illuminated by rays of light filtering through the planks of the barn. The heat is stifling in this confined space where about a hundred Peuhl tribesmen are staying. Living in the Muslim community, tolerated but not assimilated, these nomadic cattle farmers are forgotten human beings in a landlocked enclave – an additional conflict in a city already beset by violence amid a humanitarian catastrophe.

In Boda, a mining town 200 km west of the Central African Republic’s capital, Bangui, 14,000 Muslims are trapped in a perimeter that boils down to a single street lined by a few houses. Nicknamed “Boda the Beautiful,” the city has been surrounded since January 29, following the departure of ex-Seleka (Muslim) rebels, a group responsible for a coup in March 2013. Driven from Bangui in December by anti-Balaka (anti-machete) militiamen, they withdrew in the cover of darkness to Boda.

Unlike many rural towns where they had sown anarchy, the Seleka’s presence in Boda didn’t make waves. But since their departure, the city has plunged into unprecedented fighting that has drawn battle lines through the area.

The city is totally transformed: a Muslim enclave formed at the center of the city, surrounded by a no man’s land where anti-Balaka and Christians have entrenched themselves. “They all need to leave,” say the anti-Balaka, who are based near a church where thousands of Christians have fled following the destruction of their homes. They number around 500, primarily local youth.