CAR refugees stage protests in Cameroon

Refugees from the Central African Republic have been protesting against the delays in their registration process since Monday at the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bertoua in the east, APA reports.

Since the introduction of biometric registration system on 26 December 2015, the process has been slackened undoubtedly due to a “poor organization by UNHCR officials.”

Following suit the refugees in Bertoua, the CAR refugees in Douala and Yaounde staged demonstrations decrying what they called a “lack of respect” from the UN agency officials.

“The situation is unbearable. They have asked us to come and get registered. But sometimes we wait until 2am in the line without ever being registered,” they hammered with anger.

“We haven’t been going to school for three days. After two days in the queue, they don’t even tell us anything, adding to our confusion,” one refugee and high school student in Douala bemoaned.

The operations for the registration of refugees under the auspices of the UNHCR have been intensified in recent months; especially since the CAR authorities have started an electoral process due to restore institutional order by 31 March, 2016.

The UNHCR officials did not comment on the issue. However they promised to “make an assessment of the situation” by the end of the week, while the security measures were beefed up to anticipate any degeneration of the demonstrations.

According to sources, some 300,000 CAR refugees are hosted in Cameroon, particularly in the eastern region bordering the crisis-torn country