STORYLINE
UN needs $68.4 million to help Central African Republic where 2.2 million are acutely food insecure
A sharp increase in essential goods in the Central African Republic (CAR) linked to war in Ukraine will likely have a devastating impact on the already humanitarian situation there in coming weeks, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.
Some 2.2 million people are already acutely food insecure in the Central African Republic, meaning that the global food, fuel and fertilizer crisis sparked by the Russian invasion of its neighbour on 24 February will put basic food commodities and staples “out of the reach of many people”, warned Tomson Phiri, WFP spokesperson.
“The figure may not shock you out of your seats, but when you look at the population size, that’s nearly half the population of the of the Central African Republic,” he told journalists in Geneva.
To help, the UN agency needs $68.4 million urgently. “Without immediate funding, food and nutrition insecurity will only increase for millions of people,” Mr. Phiri warned, adding that a sharp increase in commodity prices is only weeks away. “We expect a 30 per cent increase in rice, a 67 per cent increase for the price of wheat flour and a staggering 70 per cent increase in the price of vegetable oil.”
To put CAR’s food insecurity crisis into context, the country is on a par with Yemen, South Sudan and Afghanistan, in terms of its proportion of acutely food insecure people.
Its problems stem from protracted internal armed conflict since 2012 that has killed thousands, driven mass displacement and left two out of three civilians dependent on humanitarian aid, amid fighting between the mostly Christian anti-Balaka militia and the mainly Muslim Séléka rebel coalition.
Just last month, the senior UN official in the country, Valentine Rugwabiza, told the Security that horrific attacks against civilians had risen, while efforts to chart a peaceful future for the country had lapsed into a state of “de facto lethargy”.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Central African Republic was referring to CAR’s adoption of its Joint Road Map for Peace in October 2021, which represented an attempt to implement a 2019 peace agreement, known as the Khartoum Accord, signed between the Government and 14 non-State armed groups.
Structural factors have also contributed to a “progressive deterioration” of livelihoods and food security, such as high demographic growth, widespread poverty, unemployment and the degradation of natural resources.
Although the country often sees fuel shortages between May and July that correspond to the beginning of the rainy season, this year, CAR started running dry this year in mid-March. The impact on the UN agency’s relief efforts and local populations will likely be dramatic and lead to “an early hunger gap”, it warned in a statement.
“At the back of our minds as well, is the impact that fuel - which is out of reach - high transport costs, is having on our own operations,” said Mr. Phiri. “Now, because we are struggling as well as an agency, what that means is that our teams on the ground are making last-ditch efforts to preposition food into deficit areas. Now, prepositioning is when we move food in advance of the lean season and the rainy season which cuts access to nearly half the country.”
ends
STORY: Central African Republic – World Food Programme
TRT: 2 mins 00s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC/ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 5 July 2022, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
What can each one of us do to save the planet, asks Yann Arthus-Bertrand on World Environment Day
The last documentary film of legendary nature photographer, documentary director and environmental activist “Nature: The Call for Reconciliation” looks for an answer.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza, are unconscionable. For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured,” Jeremy Laurence UN Human Rights spokesperson said at the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
Gaza ‘hungriest place on earth’ with aid stymied – UN humanitarians
Starving Gazans continue to be deprived of aid as international relief efforts are being severely constrained by the Israeli authorities, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNRWA
As a controversial United States and Israel-backed aid distribution plan gets underway in Gaza, the UN called on Tuesday for an “immediate surge” of its own pre-positioned supplies to help prevent starvation.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani today urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to reject a bill that was recently endorsed by parliament allowing trials of civilians in military courts. The Uganda People’s Defence Forces Amendment Bill 2025, which was passed on 20 May and now awaits presidential signature to become law, among others broadens the jurisdiction of military courts, authorising them to try a wide range of offences against civilians.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today warned of a further deterioration in the human rights situation in South Sudan at the bi-weekly briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Syria: ‘Staggering’ needs amid insecurity, health care crisis - UN humanitarians
Millions of people in Syria continue to face mortal danger from unexploded munitions, disease and malnutrition and urgent support is required, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO
UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount
Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday, But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.
1
1
1
Edited News
A war reporter from Lebanon who lost a limb in the line of duty is calling for an end to impunity for attacks against journalists.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) commemorated 160 years dedicated to connecting the world on Saturday, 17 May in Geneva, Switzerland, during the annual World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OCHA
Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege
Amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza into Friday killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas and pleaded for the blockade to end.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Deportations over recent months of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States of America, especially to countries other than those of their origin, raise a number of human rights concerns, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday.