CAR Refugees: UN deputy humanitarian chief evaluates situation

Kyung-wha Kang on February 15, visited the Gado Badzere Camp near Garoua Boulai.

The United Nations has promised to keep international donor community focus on the situation of Central African Republic, CAR, refugees in Cameroon. Kyung-wha Kang, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, was speaking on Sunday, February 15, 2015, in the Gado Badzere Refugee Camp, about 20 km from the Garoua Boulai border post in Lom and Djerem Division of the East Region.

She admitted that resources were limited, warning that with so many crises around the world these days, donors were becoming increasingly overstretched.

“We therefore need to make an extra effort to show the value of our work in order to attract more funding. This means that humanitarian agencies need to demonstrate the effectiveness of their efforts on behalf of the affected population,” Kyung-wha Kang pointed out.

The UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs said how much she was deeply appreciative of the generosity of the Cameroonian government, the Governor of the East Region and local authorities for warmly welcoming and opening up their land to the refugees; without which the efforts of aid agencies would not yield much.

In an emotional speech that was widely applauded by her colleagues, a female refugee recalled the gory stories of the destruction of livestock, massacres, mass rape, starvation, living on wild tree fruits and roots, hiding in bushes, trekking long distances with gaping wounds, etc, before reaching Cameroon. She commended President Paul Biya and local officials for the support offered them.

In response, Kyung-wha Kang stated that it was important for forgiveness to be at the centre of efforts to restore peace in CAR. She cautioned that reconciliation will take time, but there was hope.

The Governor of the East Region, Samuel Dieudonné Ivaha Diboua, told the UN guest that the situation in the region was calm today. “Thanks to the help of the United Nations and Non-governmental Organisations, the humanitarian situation has been brought under control,” he noted.

The Cameroonian government did much by keeping and feeding fleeing CAR soldiers from March 2013 to March 2014. Government also created sites for refugee camps in the Adamawa and East Regions in order to ensure their protection and that of the border areas, Governor Ivaha Diboua disclosed.