DAKAR (AlertNet) - Tens of thousands of people forced to flee their homes by violence in Central African Republic are living through a dire humanitarian tragedy unnoticed and without support from the international community, the head of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.
More than five years of harassment by armed groups and widespread violence have resulted in the displacement of over 200,000 civilians inside the impoverished country, while 80,000 have fled to Cameroon and another 57,000 have escaped to Chad.
"CAR is not of meaningful interest to most media and international concerns, and so this tragedy is unfolding without assistance," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told AlertNet by phone from Yaounde in Cameroon.
He said countries like Cameroon have helped out by accepting refugees but the majority are living with host communities who are themselves poor, stretching resources and making integration difficult.
"It is a huge challenge made severe because these host communities cannot provide protection or adequate wellbeing to the refugees," he said on his way to visit some sites in eastern Cameroon sheltering displaced people from CAR.
According to UNHCR, the refugees - mainly ethnic Mbororo herders - fled from bandits and rebels who were attacking their settlements, stealing their cattle and kidnapping women and children. Many have experienced multiple traumatic events and lost family members.
They have had to adopt sedentary lifestyles, losing their traditional nomadic way of life and becoming entirely dependent on humanitarian aid.
"It is important for us to see how the UNHCR, with the help of international partners, can help to improve the situation," Guterres said.
"HUMANITARIAN EARTHQUAKE"
On Friday, the U.N. refugee chief will fly to CAR where his agency is particularly concerned about precarious security and protection for some 4,000 refugees from Sudan's western Darfur province who are based in the northeast.
"The Central African Republic is not only a victim of its own problems; it is also the victim of complex problems in its vicinity," Guterres said.
"It has a large border with Sudan, particularly the Darfur region which is the epicentre of a humanitarian earthquake that has affected both Chad and CAR," he added.
Ethnic conflict and rebel activities pose a threat to the delivery of humanitarian aid in CAR's remote northeast, where the U.N. mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) has deployed troops with a mandate to protect refugee and displaced populations.
"It is an area of great concern, so volatile and so fragile that though MINURCAT has only a small force there, it has been a key factor to providing a minimum of security," Guterres said.
Nonetheless, there is uncertainty about the future of the force which is mainly based in Chad. The Chadian government wants the soldiers to leave and has only agreed to an extension of their mandate until May.
Guterres said UNHCR is hoping for an effective mechanism that will provide adequate security and protection for refugees in both Chad and CAR.
The U.N. commissioner also expressed concern about displacement caused by the penetration of Uganda's notoriously violent Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels into eastern CAR's Haut Mbomou region.
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