CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC:  HIGH-LEVEL MEETING WITH DONORS TO BE HELD IN CAMEROON

NEW YORK, 17 February (OCHA) -- The United Nations will hold a high-level meeting on 20 February in the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé, in the quest for funding for neighbouring Central African Republic.  Cameroon hosts most embassies and cooperation offices responsible for the Central African Republic.

The humanitarian crisis in Africa’s most landlocked nation persists for more than 1 million highly vulnerable people.  Over a month ago, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, cited the deteriorating situation in the country’s north as the world’s most neglected crisis.  “Nobody speaks about it, and it is becoming a huge problem and a major tragedy -- right in the centre of the African continent”, Mr. Guterres said.  He added that unrest in the country could easily threaten regional stability, with implications for Chad and Cameroon.

Life expectancy in the Central African Republic continues to fall at a rate of six months every year, and new dramas emerge regularly.  Increasing insecurity and violence in the country’s north since June 2005 left thousands homeless.  Furthermore, 15,000 Central Africans have fled to southern Chad over the past 6 months, adding to the 30,000 caseload of Central African Republic refugees already present in this country since the 2003 civil war.  United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations are now struggling to get funding to come to the support of the internally displaced.  “We are highly alarmed by the reports we receive from the field, and feel frustrated that we are unable to provide immediate food aid”, said World Food Programme (WFP) acting Director Dominique Ferretti.

In Yaoundé, United Nations agencies along with non-governmental organizations, will ask donors to generously fund humanitarian needs through the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP), a tool supported by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).  The recently launched 2006 appeal requests just over $46 million, and the meeting will be chaired by acting Humanitarian Coordinator Joseph Foumbi.  The United Nations is expected to issue a call for help on behalf of the local populations, urging donors to generously fund the 2006 appeal without delay.  Finance Minister Théodore Dabanga, who will represent the Central African Government, is expected to echo this request in the strongest possible terms.

The new appeal for 2006 will now be in front of donors.  Although most major donor Governments have confirmed their attendance, organizers are not optimistic that pledges or commitments will be made at the event.  “Whether this looming humanitarian disaster will be averted, will ultimately be determined in major world capitals”, said Maurizio Giuliano, Spokesperson for the Humanitarian Coordinator.

For further information, please contact:  Maurizio Giuliano, Public Information Officer, Office of the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Central African Republic, e-mail:  giuliano@un.org; tel.:  +236-031825; Stephanie Bunker, Spokesperson, OCHA-New York, e-mail:  bunker@un.org; tel.:  +1-212-917-5126; Elizabeth Byrs, Spokesperson, OCHA-Geneva, e-mail:  byrs@un.org; tel.:  +41-22-917-2653.

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For information media • not an official record