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Election-Related Displacement Tops 200,000 in Central African Republic

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - Violence which erupted ahead of the Central African Republic's
   general election at the end of December has forced more than 200,000
   people to flee their homes in search of safety, the U.N. refugee agency
   says.

   The agency reports around 100,000 people are displaced inside C.A.R.,
   with another 92,000 refugees crossing into the Democratic Republic of
   Congo, and the rest going to Cameroon, Chad and the Republic of Congo.

   UNHCR spokesman Boris Cheshirkov says conditions are particularly dire
   for the tens of thousands of refugees in the DRC, who are scattered
   across 40 localities in remote, hard-to-reach areas.

   "The needs are acute for food, for shelter," he said. "We also need
   health support. The threat of the spread of diseases, including
   COVID-19 is there. That means that we need to see more humanitarian
   actors involved."

   For that to happen, he says the international community must be more
   generous in supporting aid operations. So far, only two percent of this
   year's $151.5 million U.N. funding appeal for the C.A.R. has been
   received.

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