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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: OCHA delivers 11 mt of humanitarian aid

BANGUI, 22 April 2003 (IRIN) - The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has contributed 11 mt of relief aid to the UN effort for thousands of war-affected people in the Central African Republic (CAR), the UN system coordination analyst in the country, Silvia Chiarucci told IRIN on Friday.

The materials delivered on Thursday included tents, blankets, plastic rolls, jerry cans, pick axes and shovels, and were flown from Brindisi, Italy.

People in the north and central part of CAR did not receive any relief aid during the five-month war between the current head of state, Francois Bozize, and the man he ousted on 15 March, President Ange-Felix Patasse. So far, only Medicos Sin Fronteras (MSF-Spain) has managed to deliver medical supplies to health facilities in the north of the country.

The UN Development Programme is coordinating the humanitarian effort of the UN agencies and international NGOs in CAR. The grouping is to conduct an assessment mission as soon as the security situation improves.

An employee of the Italian NGO Cooperazione Internationale, Enerico Colombo, has toured the northern provinces of Ouham and Ouham Pende, the worst affected during the war. He told IRIN on Friday that many villages had been partially or wholly burnt. Currently, he said, towns in both provinces were only inhabited by 30 percent to 50 percent of their pre-war populations. Many other town residents, fearful of roaming armed gangs, have built new homes on their farms.

"The few who are still in villages run to the bush when they see a vehicle," he said.

Themes: (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs

[ENDS]

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