1000s take shelter at Bangui camp: Charity

Tens of thousands of displaced people in the Central African Republic have taken shelter at a makeshift camp in the capital Bangui, a medical charity says.

On Sunday, the international group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders–MSF) called for urgent aid for more than 100,000 people who gathered at the makeshift camp near the Bangui M’Poko International Airport.

MSF said it was receiving between 15 and 20 injured a day and that there was no proper sanitation or enough supplies of food and water at the airport camp, which stretches for kilometers beside a runway.

“If nothing is done in the next two weeks there is a risk of an epidemic breaking out,” said Lindis Hurum, MSF coordinator at the airport camp, adding,”MSF demands an increase in the emergency actions being taken by humanitarian agencies.”

France invaded its former colony on December 5 after the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution giving the African Union and France the go-ahead to send troops to the country.

The unrest in CAR intensified when rebels of the Seleka coalition brought CAR President Michel Djotodia to power by launching an offensive against the government in December 2012 and finally ousting then President Francois Bozizé in March.

Paris says its intervention in CAR aims at bringing stability to the country by disarming militant groups but many believe the French troops, known as Sangaris, target Muslims and turn a blind eye on Christian militia.