CAR refugees facing humanitarian crisis: UN agencies

The United Nations food aid and refugee agencies have warned about a rising humanitarian crisis in Cameroon due to the overflow of refugees fleeing the Central African Republic (CAR).

According to statements issued on Wednesday by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program (WFP), some 2,000 residents of the CAR cross into neighboring Cameroon every week, many of them suffering from malnutrition.

“People are arriving in absolutely tragic circumstances and in a context in which support for humanitarian organizations is reduced, because this is a forgotten crisis,” UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres said.

The WFP also said it is “extremely concerned” about malnutrition among the refugees.

“The acute malnutrition rates are estimated to be 11 percent and anything over two percent is an emergency,” said WFP CAR and Cameroon Emergency Coordinator Denise Brown, adding, “About one third of them are already in a state of what is basically starvation.”

The African country descended into chaos last December, when Christian armed groups launched coordinated attacks against the mostly Muslim Seleka group that toppled the government in March 2013.

In recent months, Christian militiamen have been committing acts of violence against the Muslim minority in the CAR, killing thousands of them and displacing many more.

The UN has described the forced displacement of tens of thousands of Muslims as “ethnic cleansing”.

The violence is escalating day by day despite the presence of French and African troops on the ground in the country.