The Washington-based NGO Refugees International (RI) is currently conducting a humanitarian assessment mission in the Central African Republic (CAR). The advocacy organization will focus on the causes of displacement and the humanitarian conditions in CAR’s battered northwest.

The RI team has arrived in Bangui on November 27 and will conclude its mission on December 13, 2007. The RI team is following up on its previous assessments in the Central African Republic that took place in November 2006 and March 2007, respectively.

The mission’s objective is to assess the current security conditions and its impact on humanitarian access, as well as the possibility of returns. In addition, the RI team will look at the exact causes of displacement and the humanitarian conditions of the displaced, in particular in the country’s volatile northwest (prefectures Ouham et Ouham-Pendé).

Following the strong growth of representation of UN agencies and NGOs, the RI mission will also monitor the progress in the humanitarian response to the humanitarian crisis.

Since 2005 hundreds of thousands of Central Africans have left their homes and are living in hiding in their fields. Some of the 197,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) have sought refuge in towns; others have fled to the bush. In the last year, the dire humanitarian situation in CAR has gained prominence, notably because of its presumed ties with the ongoing conflict in Darfur in the country’s northeast.

Refugees International is a non-governmental organization founded in 1979. RI staff regularly assess humanitarian problems in most of the world’s conflict zones and work to develop quick solutions to those needs. Their advocacy work provides important information to decision makers in national governments and at various UN agencies.

For more information, contact Refugees International:
Patrick Duplat, Advocate
Email: patrick@refugeesinternational.org
Phone: +1.202.828.0110 ext: 220
1705 N Street NW
Washington, DC 20036