IOM Targets Returnees to Neighbouring Countries in CAR Regional Response Plan

GENEVA, Switzerland, April 16, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Armed conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) is causing massive human displacement and neighbouring countries with limited resources are carrying an increasingly heavy financial burden.

Tens of thousands of Car Muslims, migrants and returnees fleeing armed groups continue to pour into Chad, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Republic of Congo (RoC). An estimated 200,000 have already fled CAR.

IOM has stepped up its response to the influx in Chad and Cameroon, and is now present on the borders of both countries to provide registration, medical and psychosocial assistance, and onward travel.

IOM registration teams report that many returnees and migrants arrive at borders in a desperate state after living out in the open for long periods of time. Many have lost their livelihoods and have limited access to safe water, hygiene and primary health care.

Families and individuals are subsisting on depleted savings and are unable to pay for onward transport to their places of origin or to be reunited with family members.

IOM is coordinating assistance to Third Country Nationals and returnees in close collaboration with the respective governments, the UN and other humanitarian actors.

It has already supported the evacuation and return to their home country of over 100,000 stranded and vulnerable migrants, including more than 10,000 who received direct international transport assistance. Returns have been organized from both Car and neighboring Cameroon, mainly to Chad.

IOM will today take part in the launch of the CAR Regional Response Plan 2014, a multi-sector response implemented by 15 agencies, including IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, WHO, FAO, UNWOMEN, Avions Sans Frontieres, CARE, Caritas, IMC, Oxfam, PLAN International, Premiere Urgence and Save the Children International.

The inter-agency appeal aims to mobilize the emergency response for the influx of refugees from CAR to Cameroon and Chad, the DRC and RoC. Immediate priorities include food, protection, health and nutrition, water and sanitation, and shelter.

Assistance will be provided for people who have fled CAR since December 2013, as well as their host communities, who often share limited resources and are struggling to cope with the influx.

The CAR Regional Response Plan is seeking a total USD 274 million to provide life-saving aid to tens of thousands of people who have fled for their lives and are now destitute.

IOM is appealing for USD 38.6 million for its response in countries neighbouring CAR. This includes USD 7.2 million for Cameroon, USD 29.9 million for Chad, and USD 1.5 million for DRC.