French photojournalist William Daniels spent much of his fourth trip since November covering the impact of the conflict on people in the capital, Bangui, and the northwest. As French troops shifted into the third phase of their intervention begun in December, he traveled east to peek into life where ex-Séléka rebels reign and where few aid workers and journalists have yet ventured. “It’s definitely the next stage of the story,” he says.

French photojournalist William Daniels was recently on assignment for TIME and captured a snapshot of the current state of play. He said the strife in Bangui, where the carnage he photographed in December led to louder calls for humanitarian aid and an influx of French and African peacekeepers, appears a bit more localized. Some neighborhoods look normal and others, entirely empty, have been looted or burned. The main displacement camp at the capital’s M’Poko International Airport houses more than 100,000 people.

With the conflict poised on a knife edge, French photojournalist William Daniels traveled on assignment to the Central African Republic. He passed through funerals and refugee camps, evaded firefights and men with guns. In many of his photos, there is a sense of shock and grief—the mute horror of a nation tearing at its own seams. It’s hard to watch, but it would be more shameful to look away.

When we arrived in Bab Amr, we began to send emails to editors saying we were there. We were excited, happy. Of course we were scared of the situation but we were happy.

Then on the first morning, the shelling began very close to us. One boom, then a second. On the third the Syrians with us shouted “You have to get out!” Then the fourth rocket hit. We lost Marie Colvin, the American reporter, and my friend Rémi Ochlik, a photographer. The correspondent for Le Figaro, Edith Bouvier, was badly injured, as was Paul Conroy, a British photojournalist