GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations and aid groups launched an appeal for $274 million Wednesday to help people fleeing the conflict in the Central African Republic, warning that the dire needs of hundreds of thousands can’t be met with existing funds.
Since December nearly 200,000 people have sought refuge from sectarian violence in neighboring countries, and that figure is expected to rise to over 360,000 by the end of the year, the U.N. refugee agency said. Some 600,000 people are displaced inside the Central African Republic.
“The mainly women and children fleeing atrocities in CAR are arriving in neighboring countries deeply traumatized, many wounded by machete or gunshot, malnourished and exhausted from weeks of walking and hiding,” the agency said.
“All the agencies working in the region are dramatically underfunded,” the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, told diplomats in Geneva.
Guterres said his agency is already spending three times as much as it has received so far. “This cannot be sustained,” he said.
Last week, the U.N. Security Council authorized a nearly 12,000-strong peacekeeping force to bolster French and African Union troops that have been deployed to protect civilians throughout the vast country.
The money sought by the U.N. refugee agency and 14 other humanitarian organizations will be used to pay for shelter, food, water, sanitation, health care, education and basic needs.
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