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Preliminary Appeal
Cameroon
Life-saving relief to CAR refugees in Cameroon – CMR 141
Preliminary Appeal Target: US$753,771
Balance Requested: US$753,771
Geneva, Friday, 22 August 2014
Due to the conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR), there are massive flows of IDPs inside CAR and refugees in neighbouring countries. According to a recent assessment carried out by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in July 6-17, 2014, the situation in Cameroon has gotten worse. Outflow of mostly Muslim refugees continues from CAR into Cameroon, many severely weakened. Majority of the CAR refugees are in Cameroon. There have been 118,176 new arrivals in the last six months and it is expected that this number will rise to 200,000 by December 2014 .
Over 60 per cent of the refugees are women and children, with a high number of unaccompanied minors. Out of this total, 37 % are installed in 6 sites with limited assistance. 63 % of the refugees decided to join earlier refugees in 308 host villages and/or to continue living in the transit points close to the border with CAR or in the urban area without any protection or assistance.
The new refugee arrivals show signs of the brutal violence they have escaped in CAR. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) also reports on serious malnutrition. Refugees have walked for weeks through the forests with little to eat or drink. In April and May, as many as 40 % of all the new refugees, children as well as adults, were suffering from malnutrition which justified high death rate in the past weeks.
More refugee sites need to be established to ensure the safety of refugees, while the government has advised refugees not to settle near the border for security reasons. Serious gaps in assistance remain in a number of sectors. The LWF assessment calls for interventions in shelter, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) protection and psychosocial support to children, women and girls, social cohesion and support to both refugees and hosting communities with empowerment and self-reliance activities.
Given the worsening of the situation in Cameroon, the UNHCR is in urgent need of partners who are able to deploy as fast as possible in the field. By the time of our assessment, there was no partner responsible for protection and assistance in the 308 villages who are hosting early and new refugees.
The LWF is planning to respond to the crisis in collaboration and coordination with the UNHCR, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Eglise Fraternelle Lutherienne du Cameroun (EFLC) in the country. This intervention will benefit from LWF expertise in managing refugee crisis and will work to supplement the on-going work by the local Lutheran Churches and other ACT Alliance members in the country.
This intervention is part of the regional ACT response for the CAR crisis in Chad and inside Central Africa Republic.
This appeal plans to raise US$753,771 through ACT Alliance. It is expected that the response will cost a total of $2,000,000. The rest of the funding will be provided by UNHCR, other ecumenical partners as and other external partners. The ACT Alliance part of the funding will be used for Psychosocial Support, Peace building and Cohesion, Agriculture and Livestock activities targeting 40 villages.
For the full appeal document, please click here.
