Refugee numbers from Central African Republic swell to more than 37,000

Briefing notes

Refugee numbers from Central African Republic swell to more than 37,000

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

5 April 2013 Also available in:

UNHCR is continuing to see outflows of refugees from Central African Republic. Over the last two weeks our offices have reported fresh arrivals into Chad, Cameroon, and Democratic Republic of Congo. In all, and since the conflict began last December, there are now 37,000 CAR refugees in the region.

The refugees are mainly from Bangui, as well as the cities of Bangassou, Rifai and Zemio in the southeastern part of the country bordering DRC.

Since December, 30,876 CAR refugees have found asylum in northern DRC. Chad has meanwhile received 5,600 CAR refugees, and 1,024 arrivals have been registered in Cameroon.

The help needs of these refugees are significant. Many left their homes in a hurry and were unable to bring personal belongings with them. People are either without places to live or being accommodated by local families - who themselves live in extreme poverty.

UNHCR is working with the authorities in all three receiving countries to provide protection and assistance. Our teams across the region are registering the refugees, distributing aid and setting up emergency shelters. We are also working with our humanitarian partners to provide health and education support wherever possible. This is often in remote and hard to reach locations.

In Chad we have transferred refugees away from the border to Moro, a camp already hosting CAR refugees.

In northern DRC we have so far managed to help 26,751 people. Those in Equateur province are in one established camp and 19 temporary sites. In the area of Zongo, across the river from Bangui, we are planning to expand the Worobe camp. Further north in Inke, North-Ubangi District, our colleagues have also begun clearing 400 hectares of land given by the authorities to create initial capacity for at least 10,000 refugees.

By moving refugees into camps we hope to improve the situation. Currently, people are scattered along a 600 km stretch of the CAR border making it hard to meet their needs. The areas they are in lack basic infrastructure. Health centres are short of medicine and qualified medical staff. On 29 March for example, a baby of 20 months old died from internal bleeding in Mobayi General Hospital because she could not be attended to in time.

Further east, in Orientale Province UNHCR is running a main transit center at Bondo but we plan to build six additional ones and rehabilitate another.

The influx continues as the situation remains volatile in CAR where another 173,000 civilians have been uprooted during the recent violence.

Before the March 24 coup, there were already 187,889 CAR refugees in Cameroon (87,092), in Chad (70,664), in DRC (29,000) and in South Sudan (1,143). They mainly fled from years of harassment by various armed groups operating mainly in northern CAR.

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