Zongo is just a canoe-ride from Bangui
In ironed suits chattering into mobile telephones, the elite of the Central African Republic can barely bring themselves to glance at their new twig and straw dwellings in the rebel-held town of Zongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"It's a complete nightmare. We have swapped a villa with air conditioning for the bush. But if we go home we'll be killed," said Henry Ballot, a magistrate from Bangui.
Following a failed coup attempt in May against President Ange-Felix Patasse, tens of thousands of Central Africans fled the capital, many crossing the Obangui river into the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Most were from the Yakoma tribe, the same ethnic group as the former military ruler and opposition leader, André Kolingba, who admitted he was behind the insurgency.
Last minute escape
"The presidential guard started killing the Yakoma, whether they were involved in the coup or not," said Sebastian Djengbo, 36, the proprietor of a bus company in Bangui.
"My buses were taken. I was detained by the police and told to face a wall. At the last minute, the soldier who was suppose to kill me let me escape over a fence," he added, speaking from a makeshift shelter in Zongo.
The southern Yakoma people have traditionally dominated the country's government, army and civil service.
When Patasse became the first northerner to take power in 1993, he was unable to replace them with members from his own Sara tribe because of their technical expertise.
As a result, the loyalty of the country's ruling elite has always been questionable.
During May's coup attempt, there were summary executions and harassment of the Yakoma.
Suffering services
Few have returned to work despite threats of disciplinary action and dismissal.
But while the country's scant public services suffer in their absence, the settlements housing the Yakoma are struggling to cope.
The population of Zongo - previously 15,000 - has almost doubled.
Families are living in tents along the town's main streets and next to the river. Every empty house has been rented out and the inns and hotels are full.
"There has been a suspected outbreak of meningitis in the town. Scabies, malaria and diarrhoea are rampant and we are running out of medicines," said Dr Paulin Lisimo, head of sanitation for the Zongo region.
'Intellectuals'
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, plans to build a refugee camp at Molé, 44 km inland from Zongo, but the organisation admits few of the refugees want to move.
"They're intellectual urban people. They don't want to live in a refugee camp," said a representative from the UNHCR's Zongo office, opened in June.
In Zongo, the refugees can easily receive money, news and visitors from the capital, despite the CAR closing its frontier with DR Congo in July to stop the cross-border flow of arms and rebels.
Yakoma women, who seem to be less at risk than Yakoma men, cross the river daily to sell fish in Bangui, returning to Zongo in the evening to sleep.
But the local representatives of Jean-Pierre Bemba, the Congolese guerrilla leader who controls DR Congo's northern Equateur province, want the refugees to leave.
Stray bullets
Stray bullets fired from Bangui into Zongo have injured Congolese civilians.
The Congolese also fear an attack by the Central African army to target key Yakoma people.
Zongo's Mayor, Hubert Levi, said: "These refugees are political people. We've got enough problems of our own. Refugees are sleeping in the schools which are due to open soon."
The UN office in Bangui is desperately trying to reintegrate the Yakoma back into society before tribal divisions become heightened.
But General Lamine Cisse, the UN secretary general's new representative in Bangui, admits "It's going to take a long time".
Coopi, an Italian charity, which is providing assistance to the displaced people, is giving additional help to those returning home.
Claudio Tarchi a spokesman said: "Some of these people's houses have been destroyed. Others have been looted."
"We are providing them with cement and wood to fix their houses, as well as cooking utensils, mosquito nets, blankets and food," he added.
Safety guaranteed
The Central African government has said it will guarantee the safety of the Yakoma people but human rights activists say words are not enough.
"They are still scared. Yakoma people are being threatened on a daily basis," said Theophile Sonny of the Human Rights Observatory in Bangui.
"I won't be returning until Patasse loses power. If I have to help in that process, I will. Returning home means death at the moment," says Joseph Mozara, a law student from Bangui University.