STORYLINE
"Due to armed violence, one in five Central Africans is either an IDP or a refugee in neighboring countries, with Sudan crisis excacerbating the situation"
The humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) remains critical with 3,4 million people – or half of the population - in need of humanitarian assistance. Of those, 2.4 million have needs so severe that their survival and dignity is at risk, told the Humanitarian Coordinator of the CAR, Mohamed Ag Ayoya, the media at a briefing at the UN in Geneva.
“The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection in CAR (Central African Republic) is quite high”, said Mr. Ag Ayoya. “We are talking about 3.4 million people spread over 623,000 square kilometers area due to underlying factors which are exacerbated by the long-lasting conflict, including, of course, lack of basic services such as health care, clean water and social protection.”
Repeated military confrontations between various armed actors in the country result in a continuously volatile security situation causing population movements.
“Due to armed violence, one in five Central Africans is either an IDP or a refugee in neighboring countries”. Mr. Ag Ayoya said. He added that “it is against this background that the ongoing conflict in Sudan is unfortunately also exacerbating the situation in CAR.”
The impact of the ongoing conflict in Sudan further worsens humanitarian needs in the country. Vulnerable households were already weakened after the combined impact of Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine these past years.
Mr. Ag Ayoya said the conflict in neighbouring Sudan has meant the arrival of nearly 14,000 Sudanese asylum seekers and Central African repatriates in the Northeast. It has also halted commercial traffic across the border, putting additional pressure on the limited resources available to the 130,000 extremely vulnerable people in the region.
“As of 24 May 2023, we have more than thirteen thousand people, actually a little bit less than thirteen thousand, including Central African returnees, who have previously fled from Sudan to Am-Dafockfog in CAR on one site and about ten thousand people have also fled Chad, both Chadians but also Central African returnees who also came into CAR,” said CAR’s Humanitarian Coordinator.
Delivering humanitarian assistance in CAR is often a race against time and a volatile security situation. When the rainy season starts, large parts of the country get cut off from road access and are only accessible via air lifts.
“With the rainy season beginning, the transportation of humanitarian aid by road is becoming almost impossible and extremely very limited,” said Mr. Ag Ayoa. “Warehouses could not be supplied as before due to the Sudan crisis, as I said earlier. The air transportation alternative is also limited by rising fuel prices due to the disruption of supply chain caused by the war in Ukraine and recently again exacerbated by the conflict in Sudan.”
Despite these challenges, humanitarian partners continue to find ways to assist the vulnerable population. In 2022, the humanitarian community helped 1.9 million people. In the first three months of 2023 alone, 658,000 people were reached with live-saving assistance.
The humanitarian appeal of $533 million is currently 25 per cent funded ($125 million).
-ends-
STORY: CAR Humanitarian Situation - OCHA
TRT: 2 mins. 15 sec.
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 5 June 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNHCR
DR Congo displacement, health crisis worsens amid dwindling aid access – UN humanitarians
In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a dire displacement crisis is escalating as M23 rebels make headway while aid routes are cut off, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At a press conference in Geneva, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, presented a report on the human rights violations and abuses related to the protests that took place in Bangladesh between 1 July and 15 August last year. The report is based on a comprehensive investigation undertaken by an interdisciplinary team of investigators from the UN Human Rights Office, including a forensic specialist and weapons expert.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN Human Rights Office today released a comprehensive, in-depth report on the human rights violations and abuses related to the protests that took place in Bangladesh last year, drawing on over 250 interviews with victims, witnesses, medics and senior officials, as well as individual pieces of digital information. The team also received thousands of submissions from individuals in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNOG
Gaza: a return to war must be avoided at all costs, insists UN chief
A return to war in Gaza must be avoided at all costs, UN Secretary-General António Guterres insisted on Tuesday, amid fears that the three-week old ceasefire agreement between Hamas fighters and Israel is about to end.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday warned of the risk of the violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo escalating throughout the Great Lakes sub-region, following the recent takeover of Goma city by the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group.
1
1
1
Edited News | HRC
UN human rights chief Volker Türk expressed profound concerns at the ongoing violent escalation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) caused by the ongoing Rwanda-backed M23 offensive. “If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come, for the people of the eastern DRC, but also beyond the country’s borders,” he told a Special Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNAIDS
US aid funding cuts create confusion, put HIV prevention at risk, says UNAIDS
The US pause in foreign assistance funding has created “a lot of confusion” in community HIV prevention work, despite the waiver issued for HIV/AIDS programmes, the UN agency to combat AIDS (UNAIDS) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNFPA , OCHA , UNOG
UN agencies offered a dire assessment on Tuesday about the global impact of deep cuts to grassroots humanitarian funding by the incoming US administration and reiterated calls for Washington to retain its position as a global aid leader.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
While West Bank camp is destroyed, UNRWA delivers bulk of aid in Gaza
Large swathes of Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank have been completely destroyed following a series of controlled detonations by the Israeli security forces (ISF), the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN Human Rights Office on Friday raised the alarm about the growing human rights crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the UN bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva, UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence and the head of UN Human Rights Myanmar team James Rodehaver, describedunprecedented levels of killing in 2024, four years since the coup.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNRWA
The largest UN agency in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, UNRWA, said on Friday that its staff are still helping the people of Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem who depend on them “for their sheer survival”, a day after the Israeli parliament ban on its activities entered into force.