Violence in Central African Republic uproots record 1.1mn
A record number of people - more than 1.1 million - have been uprooted in Central African Republic by spiraling violence between armed groups which threatens to plunge the country back into full-blown conflict, the United Nations said on Friday.
A surge in militia fighting in several hotspots since May has driven the number of people seeking refuge in neighboring nations to more than 500,000, while about 600,000 are displaced within the country, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said.
This represents the highest number of people forced from their homes since the conflict erupted in 2013, when the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted the president, provoking a backlash from Christian anti-balaka militias, according to UNHCR.
With at least a fifth of the population now displaced, UN peacekeepers and national security forces are struggling to contain the rising violence, a UN report said last week.
“Fresh and fierce clashes between armed groups have wrought increasing suffering, deaths and destruction,” UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said in a statement. “If the violence goes unchecked, this could fully reverse progress towards recovery.”
Nearly one in two people in Central African Republic - more than 2.2 million - need aid amid the rising violence, says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Yet several aid agencies such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and Plan International have been forced to temporarily suspend their operations in recent months, as militants loot humanitarian compounds, attack staff and raid health facilities.
Central African Republic is among the world’s most dangerous countries for aid workers - who have been attacked on about 200 occasions so far this year - OCHA’s country head Joseph Inganji told the Thomson Reuters Foundation last month.
The country’s humanitarian response plan for 2017 has been less than a third funded - $148 million of a requested $497 million - the UN’s Financial Tracking Service (FTS) shows.
“The consequences could be disastrous, if there are no further resources to meet the mounting needs,” Mahecic said.
(Source: Reuters)
South Africa to file detailed dossier with top UN court on Israeli genocide
Putin: BRICS, not the West, will drive global economic prosperity
Pentagon says completed US military withdrawal from Niger
Hezbollah breaks record of anti-Israel ops; four million settlers run for their lives
Iran rejects involvement in murder of Israeli rabbi in UAE
‘Israel at dead end’: Army chief vows Iran’s lasting support for resistance
Hezbollah executes record 51 military operations against Israel in a single day
VIDEO | Intl. day to end anti-women violence: Female victims of Israeli attacks on Gaza, Lebanon remembered
Leader: Arrest warrant not enough, Netanyahu must be executed
VIDEO | Iraqi fighters conduct fresh retaliatory attacks on vital Israeli targets
Gaza hospital chief calls for help amid Israel’s ‘extermination campaign’
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
