Children face starvation in Central African Republic

STARVATION

Children in Zemio, Central African Republic are facing starvation owing to the long-running conflict in the area.

According to a communiqué from World Food Program (WFP), a recent national nutritional survey (SMART) shows 7.1% of global acute malnutrition (GAM) among children aged 6 to 59 months. The severe acute malnutrition (SAM) exceeds the two% emergency threshold at national level and in 10 prefectures out of 16.

A spike in violence in and around Zemio has curtailed movement, with people unable to access markets. Most have lost their food reserves due to the inability to reach their farms because of violence.

Gian Carlo Cirri, WFP representative and country director in C.A.R. noted that the humanitarian situation in Zemio is perilous and can quickly descend into a catastrophe, if no action is taken now.

"Partners on the ground say women and children do not have enough food to eat and people are living in dire conditions," Cirri said.

Up to 2.1 million people, almost half of the country's 4.7 million population, are food insecure according the National Food Security Assessment (NFSA) released last January.

The region is on the brink of a severe food and nutritional crisis, due to a combination of insecurity and transport infrastructure challenges, which hamper humanitarian access to the area.

Consequently, WFP will airlift food supplies to over 18000 people. The airlift is the first step of a more comprehensive plan to address the humanitarian situation in the south-east of the country.

Food will be provided to internally displaced people and the hosts who have been sheltering them.  Specialized nutritious food will be distributed to families with young children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers.

WFP normally moves supplies into Zemio via Obo by land from neighbouring Uganda and by river from the capital Bangui via Bangassou, but a broken bridge and an out-of-service ferries have made this impossible.  They are looking into alternative options to move food by river while engineers from the UN peacekeeping mission (MINUSCA) are working to repair the ferry. 

The Government of C.A.R. and 14 non-state armed groups signed a peace agreement on February 6 under the auspices of the African Union with the support of the United Nations.

WFP needs US$ 87 million to provide lifesaving assistance through general food distribution, cash transfers, and enhanced nutrition programmes to around one million people in 2019.