UN refugee chief applauds efforts to support CAR refugees in DRC

Violence and insecurity in the Central African Republic has displaced more than 117,000 people, with the majority finding safety in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

CAPE TOWN, April 23 (ANA) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has applauded inclusive efforts to support Central African refugees seeking safety in the Democratic Republic of Congo and called for greater international support, according to a statement issued by the UN agency on Friday.

Local authorities have estimated that more than 90,000 people have fled from the CAR into the DRC since last December after elections kicked off a new wave of violence and mass displacement in the Central African country, including those who have fled to the Modale refugee site, located 30km from Yakoma in the DRC.

Thousands have walked for weeks and hid in the forests, desperately seeking safety.

Like Fidel, 35, who twice in five years has had to flee his country, across the Ubangi river, into the DRC. His latest crossing to safety was tragic, the UNHCR said.

“This time, I lost my 5-year-old son. He drowned in the river,” he said.

While crossing the river from his home in Bema in January to Yakoma in the DRC, he had left his son Eric on the CAR side of the river’s shores. His dugout canoe was too small to carry his entire family of seven across the river at once, so he had to make several trips back and forth.

When he reached the shore, he couldn’t find Eric. Panicked, he asked the fishermen who were around, and they confirmed his worst fears as they were able to identify his body.

“I was in total shock,” he recalled.

The violence and insecurity that surrounded last December’s elections in the CAR has so far displaced more than 117,000 people into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and the Republic of Congo, with the majority finding safety in the DRC. Some 164,000 more are displaced inside CAR, according to the UN agency.

Once they reached Yakoma, in the DRC’s North Ubangi province, Fidel, his wife Brigitte and their six children were welcomed by a Congolese family that took them into their modest home.

Most Central African refugees have been generously hosted by local communities, themselves struggling to share whatever little resources they have.

Last week, UNHCR and partners started relocating refugees further inland, away from the border area of Yakoma to a safer site in Modale village that can accommodate up to 10,000 refugees.

Fidel’s family was among the first group of 335 refugees who arrived at the new site this week, where they will begin the process of settling down among the local Congolese communities, which have generously offered land to refugee families and welcomed their children into their schools.

UNHCR is setting up new water and sanitation facilities and expanding health and education services while reinforcing existing infrastructure so as to reduce the strain on services resulting from the influx.

On a visit to Modale, Grandi applauded these efforts, which will assist refugees to start rebuilding their lives.

“It is really an inclusive effort. Refugees can grow their crops alongside the host community, become self-reliant, use the health services and go to school,” he said.

He also called on the international community to urgently support these efforts.

“We need to show greater commitment towards this country and its communities that continue to open their arms and shelter refugees with the little means they have,” he added.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher