December 26, 2025 03:57 pm (IST)
Follow us:
UN seeks emergency funds to aid civilians fleeing CAR
New York, Apr 17 (IBNS): United Nations humanitarian agencies and their partners on Wednesday launched a joint appeal to donors to fund emergency operations in support of the growing number of people who have been fleeing the conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) since last December.
Nearly 200,000 Central Africans, third country nationals and returnees who escaped violence in CAR over the past four months are now struggling to restart their lives in the impoverished countries of Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Congo, according to a news release.
The USD 274 million sought for the CAR Regional Response Plan is needed to cover pressing needs for shelter, food, water and sanitation, health, education and basic needs for those uprooted in the region – estimated to reach 362,200 by the end of this year – as well as for registration and building reception facilities and camps.
“All the agencies working in the region are dramatically underfunded,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, said in his presentation of the Response Plan to delegates meeting in Geneva.
He said the refugee agency (UNHCR) is already spending three times the money that has been received or pledged for this emergency and still far less than the staggering needs of the people. “This cannot be sustained,” Guterres stressed.
In addition to those who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, more than 600,000 are also internally displaced in CAR and 2.2 million, about half the country’s population, are in need of humanitarian aid as a result of the conflict which began in December 2012 with attacks by mainly Muslim Séléka rebels.
Séléka fighters clashed with Christian youth organized under the anti-Balaka movement, which is now targeting Muslim communities in the capital, Bangui, and in the west of the country.
Communal violence has had a devastating effect on civilians of both communities, with over 600,000 people still displaced inside CAR. The mainly women and children fleeing atrocities in CAR are arriving in neighbouring countries deeply traumatized, many wounded by machete or gunshot, malnourished and exhausted from weeks of walking and hiding, UNHCR reported.
(The conflict in the Central African Republic has destroyed countless livelihoods and disrupted food production. Photo: WFP/Rein Skullerud)
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
Zelensky’s Christmas message blends a call for peace in Ukraine with dark wish for Putin
Thu, Dec 25 2025
Telegram founder Pavel Durov — with 100 children already — offers to fund IVF for women using his sperm
Thu, Dec 25 2025
Zelenskyy’s demilitarised zone gambit: Ukraine’s 20-point peace plan puts Donbas, NATO-style guarantees at centre stage
Wed, Dec 24 2025
Conspiracy clouds Libyan army chief’s death: Plane crash in Turkey follows Asim Munir's meeting with rebel Khalifa Haftar
Wed, Dec 24 2025
Bamako under siege: Al-Qaida-linked JNIM pushes Mali—and West Africa—toward a security breaking point
Tue, Dec 23 2025
Who Is Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov? Senior Russian military officer killed in Moscow car bomb attack
Mon, Dec 22 2025
From Kabaddi to Courtroom: Three Indian-origin men sent to prison over violence during 2023 UK kabaddi event
Sun, Dec 21 2025
South Africa hit by second mass shooting this month; 10 dead
Sun, Dec 21 2025