50,000 suffer in ‘forgotten crisis’ in Central African Republic – UN food agency

With international attention focused on other African problems, the United Nations World Food Programme today called on the international community not to lose sight of the suffering of as many as 50,000 displaced people by fighting between the Government and rebels in the Central African Republic (CAR), and to provide additional funding.

With international attention focused on other African problems, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today called on the international community not to lose sight of the suffering of as many as 50,000 displaced people by fighting between the Government and rebels in the Central African Republic (CAR), and to provide additional funding.

“In CAR we always struggle to have our voice heard amid all the other competing humanitarian needs, but these people are living in desperate conditions and for this reason we are trying to shout louder than ever on their behalf - they need our assistance now,” WFP country Director Jean-Charles Dei said.

In one of the world’s least recognised conflicts, many thousands of people have been forced from their homes in recent months by the fighting in northwest CAR and are now scattered in the bush, in many cases surviving on wild leaves and roots in the absence of properly nutritious food.

WFP is revising its operation to include the needs of the recently displaced, for which it will require a further $2.7 million for the next three months.

Although the northwest has been a no-go zone for UN agencies for several months, WFP has been working with the non-government organizations (NGOs) and the CAR Red Cross to mount an emergency response in the Markounda and Paoua areas.

So far over 10,000 people have received food aid, but the needs are far greater. WFP is particularly concerned about the nutritional status of young children and women, given the extremely poor diets they are currently surviving on. With the rainy season imminent, the most vulnerable will have great difficulty fighting off the increased disease and infection which follows as a matter of course.

Even those that have been able to stay in their villages are facing extreme difficulties ekeing out food supplies until the next harvest in September/October, as the annual ‘hunger season’ begins to bite.

Some 7,000 refugees from CAR have already crossed into southern Chad since the security situation deteriorated at the beginning of the year. There they have joined an earlier group who fled violence in 2003, bringing the total in three camps in southern Chad to 47,000.

“The trouble in northwest CAR has a direct bearing on peace and security north of the border in Chad. It is imperative that the violence and uncertainty comes to a complete end and that humanitarian organizations are allowed full access to tend to the needs of those who are currently in great difficulty,” Mr. Dei said.