Central African Republic: Situation Report, 13 Nov 2023

HIGHLIGHTS (23 Oct 2023)

• Increasingly worrying humanitarian situation in the Haut-Mbomou Prefecture

• In 2023, the humanitarian community in CAR plans to assist 2.4 million most vulnerable people. US$ 533,3 million is required.

• Faced with insecurity in their villages, Chadians seek refuge in northwest Central Africa

• Humanitarian actors provided life-saving assistance to 1,045,000 people during the first semester of 2023, representing 43 per cent of the Humanitarian Response Plan target

• With 50 per cent of the population not eating enough, CAR has one of the highest proportions of critically food-insecure people in the world.

ANALYSIS (25 Oct 2023)
To live or just to be alive: the challenging life of internally displaced persons

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Batangafo in the Ouham Prefecture in the west of the country will soon be spending 10 years at dedicated sites. The latter had been created in 2014 at the height of the Central African conflict, to host the population of Batangafo and neighboring villages seeking refuge. With this extended stay at IDP sites, some of them are calling for assistance to return to their place of origin and resume a normal life, but the decision is not easily coming. Due to insecurity, one in five Central Africans is currently internally displaced or has found refuge abroad, mainly in neighbouring countries.

Violence against civilians and insecurity outside urban centers
continue to impact the well-being of several million Central
Africans, who see their livelihoods deteriorate and their access to
food, drinking water and many other basic services, including
healthcare, drastically limited. In 2023, 3.4 million people - 56 per
cent of the population - are so vulnerable that humanitarian assistance alone is not sufficient to guarantee their well- being.

Born and raised in a site for internally displaced persons

Reine Koutigué will soon celebrate her tenth birthday, at the same time as the Baga site in Batangafo where she was born and still lives. Thanks to humanitarian actors’ support at the health center set up inside the site, Reine's mother was able to receive the care she needed from the antenatal period through delivery. But on her birthday, she won't be blowing out candles like other children, or receiving best wishes messages. Unfortunately, it will be a day like any other, punctuated with proximity that is destabilizing for a child of her age. The little girl has never lived in a traditional habitat, such as the village where her parents' home was located.

Currently in 4th grade, Reine dreams of a career in health care to look after her brothers and sisters. "I don't want my brothers to die. I'm going to look after them when I grow up. That's why I'd like to work in a hospital," she said. Like Reine, many other children were born and are now growing up in the Baga site. According to testimonies, some of these children do not act like those born in a traditional habitat and behave somewhat differently.

"I sometimes find him lonely, sometimes aggressive, and I think this could be linked to the environment in which he's growing up", explained Emmanuel Mokpême, father of little Edouard, who like Reine will celebrate his tenth birthday soon. The youngster dreams of becoming a teacher, but his father has some doubts about his child's ability to concentrate compared to other children born and raised in a classic village. "It's the lack of landmarks, of games, of role models, of a normal day-to-day life that's doing all this," continued Emmanuel, who would like to see his son reach his 10th birthday out of the IDP site.

Plans to return tested by resources and insecurity

The decision to return is not without its difficulties for IDPs. Following improvement in the security situation, some IDPs decide to return to their villages, but need resources to resettle. During displacement, homes are either dilapidated or looted and sometimes burnt down by parties to the conflict. In other situations, IDPs have to choose between staying at the sites, returning to their places of origin because they are tired of living in precarious conditions, even if security conditions are not very reassuring, or staying at the sites because they have nothing left in their places of origin. "We no longer have a house. We came from the town of Bouca, 90 km from Batangafo. And going back is no longer possible because of insecurity," said Sabé Isaï, who has been living on the Baga IDP site for almost 10 years. In August 2023, some 489,000 IDPs were registered in the Central African Republic (CAR). 120,500 are living in sites, and 368,300 other in host families. A total of 227,000 people have returned to their villages in the last 12 months, mainly as a result of improved security situation.

Adapting the humanitarian response

Based on specificities of each region, the humanitarian community implements emergency assistance and/or support for the voluntary return of IDPs, in partnership with other actors. The humanitarian situation in the CAR is volatile, and regions once considered stable can suddenly shift into humanitarian emergency zones. Humanitarian actors are adapting their response based on this context, and are collaborating with other actors, notably on programs to support voluntary return.

Support for voluntary returns is one of the four axes of the intervention strategy of the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan. Since the beginning of the year, humanitarian actors have supported voluntary return of 4,600 households in the prefectures of Haute-Kotto and Nana-Gribizi in the center of the country, notably by providing transitional shelters, rehabilitating water, hygiene and sanitation facilities, supplying essential household items and supporting income- generating activities for returning households. Alongside the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the Humanitarian Fund for CAR is one of the key donors for this vital initial support for returnees. To date, it has disbursed over US$ 2.6 million. Once resettled, returnees have other needs for which emergency assistance is no longer adapted, requiring intervention of other types of actors, notably to rebuild basic social services.