Info Bulletin 62

Jun 3rd, 2008 by Gisele Willybiro, OCHA

26 May – 2 June 2008 – Highlights:

New camp for 9.526 Central African refugees in Moula, southern Chad
AMI fights AIDS in Ndélé
Mission of Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, 27-31 May

Background and security

120 Cameroonian soldiers for FOMUC

A contingent of 120 Cameroonian soldiers arrived in Bangui to join a base of the Multinational Force in Central Africa (FOMUC) in Paoua in the north-west of the Central African Republic. Francis Bozizé, Deputy Minister of Defense, held a welcome ceremony for the soldiers in the capital on 29 May.

FOMUC is mandated by the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) to support stability in the Central African Republic. The force was established in October 2002 and is mainly made up of Congolese, Chadian and Gabonese troops.

Current events

New camp for Central African refugees

In a race against the start of the rainy season in mid-June, when the roads become impassable, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on 23 May began transferring 9,526 recently arrived refugees from CAR to a new camp in southern Chad.

The refugees are being moved from a transit centre about 25 km from the Chad-CAR border to the Moula camp, some 150 km inland.

This latest wave of Central African refugees arrived in southern Chad between January and March this year following violence, mostly by bandits, in northern CAR. Many reported their villages had been burned and looted, and some people killed.

Smaller groups of refugees continue to cross the border. UNHCR now operates five refugee camps in southern Chad for over 56,000 refugees from northern CAR.

1,100 passengers on humanitarian flights

The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) transported between 1 January and 31 May over 1,100 people and 23 tons of cargo. Forty humanitarian organizations make use of UNHAS, which serves 15 destinations, all in the north of the country.

Though one million people are suffering from the consequences of the crisis in these regions, many destinations are difficult to reach by road because of insecurity or the appalling condition of road infrastructure. On top of that, floods and the absence of safe bridges render the northeastern region virtually inaccessible in the rainy season, except for the humanitarian flights.

On 1 May, UNHAS replaced one of the two planes with small capacity by a LET 410, which can take up to 19 passengers or two tons of cargo, depending on the destination.

UNHAS is funded by the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and its local equivalent (ERF) until the end of June. New funding is required to ensure the continuation of the flights as of July.

For more information: unhas.car@wfp.org

Fighting AIDS in Ndélé

Aide Médicale Internationale (AMI), an NGO, has been implementing two projects in Bamingui-Bangoran province in the north east of CAR since 2007 with the aim to restore access to primary health care and to information on HIV and AIDS.

HIV prevalence stands at an alarming 10.7% for adults in general and 15.1% for women in the province. But not a single facility is operational to provide support, testing services or care.

In the context of the response to AIDS, AMI conducted an assessment of knowledge, attitudes and local responses to the epidemic, in close collaboration with the National AIDS Council (CNLS) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Further to the study, AMI started in early 2008 an AIDS awareness campaign focusing on youth and women in 10 villages close to Ndélé and the town itself.

AMI is also training traditional birth attendants and nurses from three health centers and eight dispensaries, particularly on how to prevent parent-to-child transmission of HIV. In addition, AMI is raising awareness and training members of village health management committees so that they pass on the information to the population of each targeted village.

Peer educators working for HIV and AIDS organizations in the 10 villages and Ndélé received a skills-building training and each association was given educational materials and condoms.
Though the project ends in June, AMI plans to ensure the much needed continuation of these activities by expanding them to the entire Bamingui-Bangoran province.

For more information: ndele.vih.sat@amifrance.org

Coordination

Mission on Children and Armed Conflict

Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, visited CAR from 27 to 31 May to assess the situation regarding children recruited by armed groups and child protection issues in general in conflict-struck areas of the country.

At the end of her visit, she said that she was encouraged that parties to the conflict had agreed to release children, and that the next challenge will be to reintegrate them into their families and communities.

With the support of the United Nations Office in the Central African Republic (BONUCA), the United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Special Representative and her delegation visited Paoua in the north-west and Bria in the centre of the country.

Ms. Coomaraswamy met with Laurent Djim Wei of the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD) close to Paoua. He agreed to prepare a list of all children in his armed group and release them once proper arrangements were made for their protection and reintegration in communities.

The UN Special Representative also had a meeting with Zacharia Damane of the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) to appraise the implementation of the agreement he signed a year ago with UNICEF and the Government for the release of children. “It is now up to the international community and the Government of CAR to find the necessary resources to ensure effective and sustainable reintegration of children into the community,” said Ms. Coomaraswamy.

During her visit, Ms. Coomaraswamy continued to raise the issue of sexual violence against girls in the context of armed conflict with the Government and non state actors. She stressed the critical need for assistance for victims of sexual violence.

Contact us: UN OCHA Bangui, CAR
Nancy Snauwaert | snauwaert@un.org | +236 75 54 22 78
Gisèle Willybiro | willybiro@un.org | +236 75 54 90 31