Catherine Bragg (centre) and Sitta Kai-Kai,
head of WFP (bottom right) with displaced
people living in the bush north of Kabo.

(Bangui/New York, 30 July 2009): United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator and Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Catherine Bragg, ended a five-day mission to the Central African Republic (CAR) with a call for improved protection of civilians in the country.

“Despite a general improvement of the situation in some areas, the situation is still very volatile and the displaced population remains traumatised,” said Ms. Bragg. “Fear is very evident amongst the people who had to repeatedly leave their villages and watch their homes and livelihoods being looted, burnt and destroyed,” she added.

She said the absence of the police and the judiciary in some areas has led to human rights violations and a culture of impunity.

Although some displaced people started to return to their places of origin in 2008, hostilities this year caused further displacement and slowed the momentum of return, she noted, expressing hope that efforts by all parties to restore peace and security will help limit displacement and encourage voluntary return of civilians to their homes.

Humanitarian agencies estimate that one million civilians are affected by conflict in the Central
African Republic, including 125,000 who are internally displaced.

Ms. Bragg also deplored the funding shortfall that humanitarian agencies continue to face. Current funding requirements amount to $97 million. Some $48 million of the total required for the humanitarian response remains outstanding.

During her visit, Ms. Bragg met President Francois Bozize and Prime Minister Faustin Archange Touadera. She also visited internally displaced people in the towns of Birao, Kabo and Paoua and had meetings with humanitarian workers in those areas.

Ms. Bragg said humanitarian organisations in some of the areas she visited still had difficulties accessing certain vulnerable groups due to insecurity and the bad state of roads and bridges, particularly during the rainy season.

The Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator urged the national authorities to ensure that humanitarian agencies had unhindered access to all those in need.

The full text of all press releases relating to this visit are available here:

Press release 1 - English (PDF) - 28 kb
Press release 2 - English (PDF) - 28 kb
Final Press release - English (PDF) - 24 kb

In Coordinated Aid Programme, 34 aid agencies ask for $116m for 2009 to fund humanitarian assistance in the Central African Republic

Pierre Holtz/UNICEF

On 19 November, John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, launched the Humanitarian Appeal 2009, with CAR being one of the countries covered by the appeal.

The country’s Coordinated Aid Programme (CAP) 2009 includes 105 projects which require funding of just over $116 million. It seeks to provide aid to 1 million Central Africans hit by the conflict. The 2009 CAP strategic priorities are to (i) deliver life-saving assistance, particularly health care and safe water; (ii) protect people struck by violence against violations of their human rights; and (iii) integrate early recovery and humanitarian action.

Ten projects to provide basic healthcare and human rights protection, as well as a humanitarian air service to enable aid workers to reach people in remote areas and transport relief items, are ranked as an immediate priority. Just over $14m are needed for these most urgent activities.

Click here to download the 2009 Coordinated Aid Programme for CAR (PDF, 2.6MB) and here for more information, including all projects and the funding status of the Coordinated Aid Programme

Pierre Holtz/UNICEF/Feb 08

The United Nations humanitarian wing today appealed for donors to provide another $26 million to support its aid activities in the impoverished Central African Republic (CAR), where more than 200,000 people remain displaced from their homes by persistent conflict and banditry over the past two years.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the aid programme launched by the UN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the CAR this year needs $116 million in funding, but has received only $90 million so far.

UN agencies have vastly expanded the number of programmes they provide in the CAR to help the growing numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees now living in neighbouring countries such as Cameroon, Chad and Sudan.

Humanitarian agencies have also strengthened their presence outside the capital, Bangui, by increasing their number of offices from seven just two years ago to 46 this month.
Continue Reading »

When families are forced to flee their villages because of violence, they often have to leave behind some of their most valuable assets: seeds and tools for farming. This leads to an even bigger loss: their harvest.

Because of ongoing violence, food security is a major issue in the Central African Republic. Although some early projects are making a difference, more needs to be done; local food prices are increasing rapidly for food produced both inside and out of CAR .
Continue Reading »

Prime Minister makes emergency appeal

Bangui, Central African Republic – Faustin Touadera, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic, issued an emergency appeal for international support in the wake of a catastrophic failure of the country’s power system. After nearly 60 years of service and erratic maintenance at best, and despite offers from key donors to help over the course of the past few months, CAR’s weak electric infrastructure has taken one more step towards complete collapse.  Rolling blackouts, often lasting more than 24 hours, have now plunged the capital into nearly complete darkness. Continue Reading »

An updated presentation of the general humanitarian and development situation in CAR is now available. UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Toby Lanzer presented this briefing to donors and other partners in Europe earlier this month, including at an OECD/DAC seminar, during EC consultations in Brussels and with Dutch officials in the Hague. The updated version integrates new developments in security sector reform and political dialogue, as well as other key points.

Download presentation
Continue Reading »

Aid agencies working in the Central African Republic have renewed their emergency appeal for the country. The mid-year review of the Coordinated Aid Programme (CAP) for CAR was launched today by Toby Lanzer, UN Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator. Read a summary of the appeal below.

Violence has now displaced a greater proportion of the population in the north of the Central African Republic (CAR) than in any other country of the world. Torching villages, unknown in CAR until November 2005, has become routine, summary executions reign in a climate of impunity, and rape shatters the dignity and health of the country’s women.

This is the reality faced by one million people scattered in small villages or seeking refuge in the bush along the borders with Chad and Sudan. And it comes on top of the world’s most oppressive poverty which has seen almost two thirds of CAR’s population of 4.2 million survive on less than US$ 1 per day. Continue Reading »