ATTACK ON UNICEF VEHICLE IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC KILLS TWO DOCTORS

NEW YORK, 12 April (OCHA) -- Two doctors were murdered on the night between 9 and 10 April, when armed men believed to be local bandits attacked a vehicle provided by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to the Ministry of Health.  The ambush took place next to the village of Gbawi, located 30 kilometres from the town of Yaloké in the country’s north-west.  Driver Dango Yamale, an employee of the Ministry of Health, survived the attack with serious injuries.  According to local sources, an exchange of fire erupted when a vehicle of the Multinational Force in the Central African Republic reached the scene, and two Multinational Force soldiers also sustained injuries.

The two doctors were engaged in humanitarian work organized by the Government, with financial support from the United Nations.  Dr. Eric Kassa-Kelembo worked for the French-run Pasteur Institute, while Dr. Joachin Kaba-Mebri was an official of the Ministry of Health, who worked very closely with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

“I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms.  There is a sizeable humanitarian community working to improve the living conditions of Central Africans, and this is an attack on humanitarian action in the country”, said Dr. Joseph Foumbi, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, who is also the representative of UNICEF.

“While there was no UN staff involved, we are deeply concerned that the armed individuals attacked a UNICEF vehicle, in the knowledge that it was property of the United Nations, and that the travellers were, therefore, connected, in one way or another, to the Organization and humanitarian action”, said Maurizio Giuliano of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

This incident deals yet one more blow to humanitarian action, in a country that is currently going through a critical humanitarian crisis, seriously under-funded by international donors.  While hundreds of thousands of people urgently need food, medication, and other items, it is becoming more and more difficult to deliver these to the country’s most dangerous areas in the north-west, due to security concerns.

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.:  +41-22-9172653.

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For information media • not an official record