EU announces 1.96bn humanitarian aid to Cameroon

Jean Louis de Brouwer, Director of Operations of the European Commission’s Humanitarian and Civil Protection Department announced in a press conference in Yaoundé Feb. 20 that his organization is putting at the disposal of Cameroon FCFA1.96 billion as financial aid to the growing humanitarian needs in the country.

The funding, according to the Europen Union, besides the FCFA 2.4 billion allocated earlier in January, is to address the needs of refugees, internally displaced persons and the local population in the Eastern and Northern parts of the country.

The assistance will take care of the increasing number of refugees from Nigeria in the Far North region of the country as well as the deteriorating nutritional situation of the resident population of the region.

“We realize the tremendous challenges facing Cameroon due to influx of refugees from the spill over in Nigeria. We are demonstrating EU’s solidarity with funds as well as with action by deploying our experts to Cameroon” said de Brouwer.

He stated that EU humanitarian assistance will be channeled through humanitarian organisations working in the country to provide lifesaving medical nutrition assistance, access to save water and sanitation services, shelter, food assistance and protection of people in need.

In addition to its financial support, the European Commission Humanitarian and Civil Protection Department, ECHO, plans to open an office in Yaoundé in March 2015. This will be expanded into a regional office in the second half of 2015 in order to also support humanitarian operations in the Central African Republic, Chad and Nigeria.

Since January 2014, Cameroon has hosted some 137,000 refugees from the Central African Republic who have fled the conflict in their country and 41,000 others from Nigeria who have sought refuge in the Far North region escaping from Boko Haram attacks.

Boko Haram attacks in northern Cameroon and Nigeria have intensified in the past weeks leading to internal displacement of several thousands of people aggravating an already alarming humanitarian situation.

Jean Louis de Brouwer was accompanied at the Yaoundé press conference by the head of the EU delegation to Cameroon, Ambassador Francoise Collet.