The United Nations on Monday solicited support for at least 3.4 million people in the Central African Republic requiring assistance and protection.

Mohamed Ayoya, the UN humanitarian Coordinator in the CAR, who made the call at a news conference in Geneva, said of this number, 2.4 million had needs so severe and complex that their survival and dignity were at risk.

The conflict in neighbouring Sudan has further exacerbated needs, and a $465 million humanitarian plan for the country was amended to include support for some 25,000 Sudanese and CAR nationals fleeing the fighting and local communities hosting them.

“Our priority remains assisting the most vulnerable sections of the Central African society,” he said. “In addition, we will continue to support those suffering from the consequence of the conflict in Sudan, both from the displaced and host community.”

Ayoya provided a background to the humanitarian crisis in the CAR.

Repeated military confrontations between various armed groups had uprooted one in five people from their homes, forcing them to find refuge elsewhere in the country or across the border.

Flooding in 2022 also affected over 100,000 people, almost three times more than on previous occasions, and more than 6,000 homes were destroyed.

“The country is also marked by decades of lack of investments in adequate socio-economic infrastructures, services and livelihoods,” he added. “Basic services are often unavailable to the population, worsening people’s living conditions and eroding their resilience to the point that a large majority is forced to adopt negative coping mechanisms.”

As a result, three out of five citizens lack access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and only 55 per cent of children complete elementary school.

There is also a “devastating human cost” as two women or girls fall victim to gender-based violence every hour. Nearly 5,000 cases were reported in the first quarter of the year alone. He reported that the humanitarian situation has worsened due to the conflict in neighbouring Sudan.

According to him, vulnerable families were already finding it hard to meet their basic needs due to the combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“The arrival of nearly 14,000 Sudanese asylum seekers and Central African repatriates in the northeast, as well as the end of commercial traffic across the border, puts additional pressure on the limited resources available to the 130,000 extremely vulnerable people in the region,” Mr Ayoya said.

(NAN)