Central Africa: UN releases funds for humanitarian aid amid ongoing crisis

According to a press release issued by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN's Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) in the CAR has released $13.2 million to help support local aid agencies deliver clean water, education, healthcare, livelihoods support, nutrition, protection, and shelter to people displaced by violence, returnees, refugees and vulnerable host communities.

“Thanks to donors who have contributed in 2015, this CHF allocation allows humanitarian partners to continue helping thousands of displaced people and host families,” said Aurélien Agbénonci, the UN's Humanitarian Coordinator in the African country.

He said, “However, it is only three per cent of the $415 million we still need by the end of the year if we are to save more lives and reach all people in acute need in 2015.”

More than two years of civil war and sectarian violence have displaced thousands of people in CAR amid ongoing clashes between the mainly Muslim Séléka alliance and anti-Balaka militia, which are mostly Christian. In addition, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) continues to operate in the south-eastern part of the country.

“Our goal is to make sure aid gets to those who need it the most and as quickly as possible,” Agbénonci continued.

The UN official praised the allocation of funding as “necessary,” noting that the financing would ultimately help those “worst affected by violence, disease and displacement.” But, he added, more and more funds would still be required to continue to meet affected people's needs over the coming months.

The UN estimates that some 450,000 people remain displaced inside the country while thousands of others have sought asylum across the borders. OCHA confirmed, however, that overall some 2.7 million people in the CAR remain in direct need of “urgent humanitarian assistance.”

Photo: OCHA/Gemma Cortes