12/04/13 UNHCR chief urges international support for Central African Republic and DR Congo

Guterres
made the call during a visit to Worobe camp in northern DRC's Equateur
province, where he talked to some of the more than 2,200 refugees from Central African Republic.
An estimated 37,000 civilians have fled across the Oubangui
River to Equateur and Orientale
provinces to escape fighting in Central
African Republic. Many left after the rebel
capture on March 23 of the capital, Bangui.

The
High Commissioner said he had come to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
because he wanted to draw the world's attention to the "forgotten"
humanitarian crises in the DRC and the neighbouring CAR. He stressed that more
than 3 million civilians from the two countries have been uprooted within and
outside their county, due to conflict and violence.

Nearly
two decades of war and instability have left 2.5 million Congolese homeless in
the DRC, mostly in eastern provinces, while 450,000 others have fled abroad to
countries like Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Meanwhile, the thousands
of new CAR refugees are in addition to 188,000 of their compatriots who have
been in exile in neighbouring countries for years. CAR also has 173,000
internally displaced people.

Speaking
to the refugees in Worobe, Guterres said: "I wanted to express my
solidarity with you because I know that you have suffered a lot." He
promised that "we and our partners will do our best to make sure that the
international community will help you."

The
refugees told the visiting High Commissioner and his delegation that they
urgently needed clean water, food, shelter and health care. Worobe is located
some 20 kilometres
from the Equateur town of Zongo, which lies
opposite Bangui.
Hundreds of refugees are staying in Zongo with host families.

UNHCR
and its partners face logistical problems reaching out to the thousands of
refugees spread along a 600-kilometre stretch of the Oubangui in a remote and
hard to access region. UNHCR is working with the authorities in the DRC as well
as two other receiving countries, Cameroon
and Chad,
to provide protection and assistance.

The
agency, which is also helping to provide aid and protection in Worobe, has been
registering the refugees, distributing aid, setting up emergency shelters and
working with partner organizations to provide health and education support.

UNHCR
has already allocated US$6 million in response to the influx, but the funding
does not cover all the needs of the widely scattered refugees. A new camp for
an initial 10,000 refugees is being created at Inke, in Equateur's North Oubangui district.

Guterres
arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday for a three-day visit.
Before his departure on Saturday evening, he is scheduled to meet President
Joseph Kabila and members of his government.

UNHCR
runs a major operation in Democratic
Republic of the Congo. Aside from the
internally displaced people, it also monitors tens of thousands of refugees
from other African countries. It has also helped repatriate refugees from Republic of Congo,
Angola, Rwanda and Burundi.

By Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba in Worobe,
Democratic Republic of the Congo