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ADDIS ABABA/GENEVA. — The African Union yesterday urged the international community to do more in the strife-torn Central African Republic, describing the situation there as “dire”.“CAR needs a lot of assistance, the humanitarian situation is dire, we need all to do more, whatever can be done to that end is welcome,” El Ghassim Wane, the AU’s Deputy Commissioner for Peace and Security, told AFP.
A rebel coalition known as the Seleka seized power on March 24, forcing out president Francois Bozize after 10 years in power.
The Seleka alliance, which has since been officially dissolved, was made up of rebel groups that had been operating in the lawless north of the country since 2003.
As they took over and installed Seleka leader Michel Djotodia as head of state, the rebels were accused of going on a looting and killing spree, displacing up to 180 000 people.
A 1 100-strong African peacekeeping force, MICOPAX, is on the ground and is set to be boosted to 3 652 troops from neighbouring countries.
Wane said the AU was urgently seeking approval from the UN Security Council to deploy troops.
“We need to ensure that we mobilise the remaining troops as quickly as possible and get the mission on the ground,” he said.
The AU is seeking additional support from partners for the mission, partly funded by the European Union (EU).
“We are working with the EU already on part of the funding,” he said. “To deploy a mission you always need international support in terms of logistics and even funding, so this are what we are working on.”
On Thursday, French President Francois Hollande said he would lead a mini-summit with the leaders of Gabon, Chad and Cameroon to discuss boosting the peacekeeping mission in CAR.
A former French colony, Central African Republic is one of the world’s poorest countries — with unexploited natural resources — and has been chronically unstable for the greater part of the past two decades.
In a related development, United Nations agencies have reportedly been scaling up assistance in the Central African Republic (CAR) as re-emergence of conflict has sparked more displacement in the country, the agencies announced yesterday.
Adrian Edwards, spokesman of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), told reporters that UNHCR staff have seen new displacement this week in the northwest of the country due to heavy clashes between Saturday and Tuesday.
A UNHCR team arrived in Bossangoa, a town where the clashes were reported, located 300 km northwest of the capital Bangui, to assess the extent of the displacement and the humanitarian needs of the affected populations in the region, Edwards said.
He said that UNHCR was continuing to assist internally-displaced people in the country, providing aid kits consisting of tarpaulins, blankets, sleeping mats, and hygienic kits for women and girls.
UNHCR statistics showed that violence in CAR since December 2012 has uprooted an estimated 227 000 people and forced into exile another 60 800, mostly women and children, to neighboring countries, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Chad.
Elisabeth Byrs, spokesperson of the World Food Programme (WFP), said the organisation was committed to scaling up food assistance to displaced people.
The re-emergence of conflict in the country is placing vulnerable households and communities at risk of food insecurity, she said.
Up to 500 000 people are estimated to need immediate food assistance and this figure is likely to increase as the planting season has been disrupted by conflict and displacement, according to the WFP.
She said that WFP was re-opening its offices in the north eastern and western parts of the country and using mobile teams to reach people in areas that remain insecure.
She said WFP would also provide emergency school meals at schools that reconvene in October from summer vacation. — AFP/Xinhua.
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