Influx of refugees into East region: World Food Programme Donates 2500 Tons Food Items To Refugees

By Doh Bertrand Nua 

Officials of World Food Programme (WFP) in Cameroon have donated 2500 tons of food and non-food items to refugees including men, women and children fleeing violent confrontations in the Central African Republic (CAR). 

CAR refugees in East region, Cameroon

The donation was made with support from the United States Agency International Development, USAID. The items comprising rice, beans, vegetable oil, salt and other non-food-items was distributed to some 60 families of 285 people at the camp in Gado-Badzere located some 30 KM from the border town of Garoua-Boulai in the East region. 

The items are expected to sustain the refugees for at least a month after which further rations will be ditched out. The donation summed up 12% of what has been planned by officials WFP initial multi-sectoral assessment carried out by their officials in the East. WFD officials revealed that the 500 capacity warehouse set up in Gado will be used to manage food distribution and logistics around this emergency response.

It was revealed from the assessment that the most immediate need for the refugees is food support as well as the wish to be granted access to farmland, tools and agricultural techniques to foster their self-reliance. 

WFP had prior to this assistance designed a cash-based transfer and long-term resilience measures to help the refugees engage in more sustainable options besides just providing their basic survival needs. 

Awareness-raising sessions had also been led by WFP where beneficiaries were told the context of the aid, protection risks, their rations as well as COVID-19 prevention strategies as they settle into the camp.

The current wave of violence in the CAR is hindering WFP trucks from transporting on a daily basis like before food assistance to food insecure persons in CAR. 

The donation adds to that recently made by the Minister for Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji during his security evaluation visit to the region. 

The recent violence in CAR led to border closures and cargo trucks are lined up on both sides of the border between Cameroon and CAR unable to move goods including humanitarian support due to security concerns. 

These trucks have been lined up at the border for almost a month until yesterday January 17, 2021 when a convoy of 30 trucks were escorted across the border from Bangui.  

Most of the recent wave of refugees have settled into the communities or moved in with families (for those who might have had family here or who fled previous violence in CAR). Some 285 refugees in Gado-Badzere indicated interest to be moved to the refugee camp site. 

Statistics from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees indicates that some 58,000 people are still displaced inside CAR’s affected regions and nearly 9,000 refugees have arrived in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad, and the Republic of Congo this past month.