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Central African Republic: Situation Report, 27 May 2022

Pays
République centrafricaine
Sources
OCHA
Date de publication
Origine
Voir l'original

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Access to drinking water: a daily struggle.

  • Humanitarian actors assisted 447,000 people in the first quarter of 2022, 22,3 per cent of the target.

  • 30 civilians were killed and 49 injured in 63 accidents involving landmines and other explosive devices between January 2021 and March 2022.

  • The humanitarian community in CAR plans to provide multi-sectoral assistance to 2 million people in 2022. US$461.3 million will be required.

  • 3.1 million Central Africans need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2022, 63 per cent of the population.

TRENDS

The ever-growing threat of explosive devices

Accidents involving landmines and other explosive ordnance have taken on increasing proportions since April 2021, particularly in the west of the Central African Republic (CAR), a region where conflict has intensified.

An alarming rise

Between January and March 2022, seven people, all civilians, were killed and 29 injured, including 19 civilians, in 19 accidents involving explosive devices. In 2021, 44 such accidents were recorded, killing 30 people, including 23 civilians, and injuring 48, including 30 civilians. The number of accidents recorded in the first quarter of 2022 amount to nearly half of all accidents recorded in 2021, and both years show a significant increase compared to the year 2020, when two incidents with no casualties were registered.

Civilians are the main victims of explosive devices in CAR. In total, 81 per cent of those killed and 64 per cent of those injured since 2021 were civilians. The most affected regions are the north-west and the west of the country, where 82 per cent of all incidents and accidents took place, although an increasing number of accidents have also been registered in the country’s centre in 2022.

On 4 April, anti-personnel mines were discovered for the first time in CAR. The population found them and reported them to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and the peacekeeping mission MINUSCA, which destroyed the devices before they could harm someone. Anti-personnel landmines are prohibited under the Mine Ban Convention, which entered into force for CAR in 2003.

In mid-March, a truck contracted by a United Nations agency to transport construction materials from Bocaranga to Bozoum to build a secondary school hit an anti-tank mine near Ngoutéré, 40 km from Bocaranga. Two people were killed, two injured and the truck was severely damaged. The same truck had hit another mine in the same area in December, injuring one person. The school construction project has since been halted because construction material cannot be delivered, risking the school drop out of 600 pupils. In the same region of Ngoutéré, humanitarian partners cannot reach 1,800 vulnerable people with food assistance and cannot support four health facilities and 12 schools due to the lack of access.

Without distinction

The victims are diverse: a family, children, farmers, a humanitarian worker, merchants, armed elements, UN peacekeepers and a priest. Explosive devices that detonate by the presence, proximity or contact of a person cannot distinguish between civilians and combatants, raising important concerns about the principles of distinction and proportionality under international humanitarian law.

In July 2020, the suspected use of anti-vehicle mines was first reported in the country since the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA was established in 2014. One of the suspected devices damaged a MINUSCA tank near the border with Cameroon. After a relative calm between July 2020 and April 2021, the problem has taken on dangerous dimensions with serious consequences for civilians and humanitarian access.

Restricting humanitarian access and socioeconomic activities

The suspected presence of explosive devices severely limits humanitarian access to vulnerable people in a context already marked by access restrictions due to armed conflict and physical access constraints.

At least 30,000 vulnerable people are cut off from humanitarian assistance in western CAR due to the threat of landmines and other explosive devices. Humanitarian partners in Paoua, Bouar and Bocaranga are forced to restrict their movements due to the increasing threat of these devices. In December 2021, humanitarian organisations temporarily suspended their movements throughout the north-west (north of Bocaranga and west of Paoua), as well as west of Berbérati. The absence of humanitarian aid increases people’s vulnerability and exposes them to malaria and waterborne diseases. For example, most of the water points on the Niem-Yelewa-Sabéwa axis are out of order due to lack of maintenance. According to the Humanitarian Needs Overview 2022, the regions affected by explosive devices are also among those with the most severe humanitarian needs. Several axes in the Nana-Mambéré, Mambéré-Kadéï and Ouham-Pendé Prefectures have been considered high-risk due to the suspected presence of explosive devices and remain impassable for humanitarian workers and civilians, notably between Gamboula and Amadagaza. The same applies to the Yelewa-Sabéwa axis, which has remained inaccessible since January 2021. Towns and villages in the areas where explosive devices are suspected risk to be cut off from food and other supplies, trade, security patrols and humanitarian assistance. Explosive ordnance also limits people’s access to fields during this time of planting, places of work and income and essential services such as health care and education.

Emergency assistance by air

Circumventing access restrictions, between June and October 2021, OCHA and humanitarian partners delivered relief supplies by helicopter to Nguia-Bouar, Ngaoundaye, Ndim and Gbambia in Nana-Mambéré, Mambéré-Kadei and OuhamPendé. More than 4.5 tons of medicine, nutritional supplements, hygiene products, education kits and food reached about 56,000 vulnerable people, including more than 4,000 internally displaced people, to satisfy the most urgent needs and replenish local health centers.

Following clearance operations of explosive devices by MINUSCA, an OCHA and UNHCR convoy delivered more than 80 tonnes of food and 555 kits with essential household items to more than 1,500 host families and displaced people near Bocaranga, Ndim and Koui in early February 2022.

**Protecting civilians and humanitarian workers **

In September 2021, UNMAS launched an awareness campaign on the threat of explosive ordnance for the population in Bouar, Berbérati, Paoua and Boali. By the end of 2021, more than 7,085 people had been reached, including 4,310 children.

Awareness-raising signs have been put up in strategic locations in Baoro and Bouar. Drawings and photos highlight precautions to be taken not only to avoid the devices but also to mark and report them to the organisations responsible for their destruction. UNMAS has also organised explosive ordnance awareness sessions for more than 1,500 humanitarian actors and UN staff. A training-of-trainers session was also given to different organisations to enable them to raise awareness among their staff in Bangui and in field locations.

Additional funds are now urgently needed to increase the extent of risk education projects for children, women and men in the affected areas.

Watch two videos on:

The danger of explosive devices for the people in CAR The impact of explosive devices on humanitarian aid

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.