Central African Republic: Situation Report, 15 Jul 2024

HIGHLIGHTS

• In 2024, the humanitarian community in CAR plans to assist 1.9 million most vulnerable people. US$ 367.7 million is required.
• Humanitarian actors provided life-saving assistance to 2 million people in 2023.
• Increasingly worrying humanitarian situation in the Haut-Mbomou Prefecture
• Faced with insecurity in their villages, Chadians seek refuge in northwest Central Africa

COORDINATION

Getting on with life after displacement

After several decades of conflict, one in five Central African is displaced either within the country or abroad, particularly in neighbouring countries. Some of the 6.1 million Central Africans have been forced to move from one town or commune to another, often several times. In this context, humanitarian and development actors are working in support of the government to enable Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and some refugees in the Central African Republic (CAR) to resume a normal life where circumstances permit.

Durable solutions to displacement is the key term. This means leaving displacement sites or integrating local community and ending dependance on humanitarian aid. A durable solution, when achieved, means that people no longer need specific assistance and protection linked to their displacement. Durable solutions include voluntarily returning home or place of residence, resettlement in another part of the country or integration into the host community. IDPs and refugees often need support in their efforts to gradually return to a more or less "normal" life. While humanitarian actors are making efforts to respond to urgent and immediate needs of IDPs and refugees, the commitment of partners in the development, peace and security sectors, in support of the government, is required to implement durable solutions in the context of the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus.

The integrated village

Since 2022, in two years, 930 IDP families have moved to Pladama Ouaka, a rural municipality around 10 km from Bambari in the Ouaka Prefecture, integrating several services with the support of humanitarian and development agencies, and local authorities. Each family has been granted 300 m2 of land where brick houses and latrines were built. Socio-community infrastructure such as classrooms, a market, a mini water supply system, boreholes for drinking water, solar-powered street lamps for lighting at night, arable land and a grazing area have also been made available to maintain their livelihoods.

Originating from various regions of the country ravaged by violence, these families had fled violence in various parts of the country and had lived in a site in Bambari for years until it was burnt down in May 2021, forcing the IDPs to leave. Once again displaced, they settled in the mosque, from which they were again evicted, and in different areas of Bambari, where they lived in very difficult conditions and were also exposed to protection risks and epidemics.

Local authorities had identified Pladama Ouaka, a community of 50,000 people, as a favorable location for voluntary resettlement, and had allocated 124 hectares of land to accommodate these people. Around 1,000 families agreed to settle there almost immediately. Initially, around 500 families were supported in their resettlement by various United Nations agencies, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Organisation for Migration (IOM), World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), various NGOs including ACTED, AID, APADE, HOPIN, Humanité et Inclusion (HI), Intersos, International Medical Corps (IMC), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Tearfund, Triangle, World Vision and local authorities.

The 10 km road from Bambari had been rehabilitated to facilitate access and reinforce security through police patrols. After an initial phase during which people moved into transitional shelters, brick houses with straw roofs were built, one for each family with one toilet per household.

"I'm so happy to have a house, because a man without a house is considered as nobody in the community," says Ibrahim Hassan, who had been displaced for 10 years after fleeing Kouango in 2012, and who was one of the first families to move into the new brick houses in Pladama Ouaka. "This house and the large plot of land give me back the dignity I had. They give me more serenity in my occupations for the well-being of my family. My children's future will be filled with joy and not pain, and that makes me very happy", says this father of seven.

An additional hangar had been built at the local health center and a school building rehabilitated. School supplies and learning materials were distributed to teachers and students, and benches and tables were provided to the school. Three boreholes had been drilled in the integrated village and are now providing drinking water to its inhabitants and the surrounding communities. Food security partners had distributed gardening kits to help them grow vegetables. Community management structures had also been strengthened to resolve conflicts and promote social cohesion.

To ensure the sustainable resettlement of these populations and to consolidate the achievements made, 15 village savings and credit associations were formed and income-generating activities are developed for 300 households. This programme will enable these populations to get new livelihoods through self-employment, to create profitable and sustainable sources of income that will strengthen their capacity for resilience and self-financing of projects.

Resettling an entire town

In May 2022, a similar durable solutions project was launched in Bria, in the Haute-Kotto prefecture, where the country's largest IDP site is located. 37,000 IDPs were then living on this site located 3 km from the town (PK3), in a commune that counts 75,000 residents. Many of them had fled violence and insecurity from central Bria in 2017 and 2018. Since 2021, the security situation in Bria has been continuously improving and state authorities, including the police, armed forces and justice have returned. Today, the prefectural authorities are supporting the voluntary return of 3 455 families in Bria. With the support of humanitarian and development partners, this families are being provided with building materials to rebuild the ruined houses. Support in the form of cash and materials, including brick presses, is helping to facilitate production so that returnees can make their own bricks and build semi-durable shelters and houses. Between 2022 and 2023, the NGO OXFAM completed 11 water boreholes and eight autonomous solar water stations, which are now benefiting the new returnees. Since the beginning of the pilot project, the number of IDPs living on the PK3 site continue to decrease, from around 37,000 at the beginning of the programme in May 2022 to 12,000 in February 2024. This dynamic has also led to the spontaneous return of other families to their regions of origin. To make it easier to settle back into their neighborhoods, families were also given cash to buy non-food items, or to develop income-generating activities.

Although much work remains to be done to find durable solutions for the 12,000 IDPs still living on the PK3 site, there is now a sense of hope for a more normal life outside the IDP site.

Additional resources required

Between December 2023 and January 2024, IOM conducted a survey on the future intentions of IDPs, with the aim of informing and guiding sustainable solution strategies in the country.

According to the results of this survey, 58 per cent of IDPs living on sites intend to integrate locally and sustainably in their current region of displacement, 22 per cent wish to return to their regions of origin, 7 per cent opt for resettlement and 13 per cent are not ready for durable solutions or are undecided. As for IDPs living in host communities, 69 per cent intend to integrate locally and sustainably in their current regions of displacement, 12 per cent wish to return to their regions of origin, 3 per cent have opted for resettlement in another region and the remainder are not ready or undecided in terms of durable solutions.

The CAR Humanitarian Fund has played a catalytic role in providing funding to support the voluntary return of IDPs, in line with recent years’ strategic response, which aims, among other, to strengthen the resilience of populations in regions of stability, through sustainable solutions to protracted displacement. This dynamic has led to the involvement of other donors, notably the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO). Thanks to this funding, humanitarian actors and the UNDP continue to put in place durable solutions for nearly 6,000 returnee families to be resettled in Bria, Bambari and Kaga-Bandoro.

Assistance provided by humanitarian actors is the first step in supporting returns. It will need to be complemented by the involvement of more development actors and the government, and financially supported over the long term.

A major displacement crisis

As a result of insecurity, one Central African in five remains displaced either within the country or abroad, mainly in neighboring countries. As of 30 May 2024, the total number of IDPs in CAR is estimated at 451,000 people, of whom 18 per cent were in sites and 82 percent in host families. This corresponds to a 13 per cent drop in displacements compared with April 2024, when the number of IDPs was estimated at 518,000. However, since the beginning of the year, around 5,000 people have been displaced each month due to insecurity. In addition, 750,000 people have taken refuge abroad, mainly in neighboring countries, as a result of insecurity.

Since the end of 2022, the trend in movements of population observed in Bria, in the center of the country, has been towards return. In January 2023, the PK3 site was home to 37,000 people, compared with 12,000 in May 2024, a drop of around 63 per cent. This drop is justified by the implementation of support to return programs, while the improvement in security conditions in the regions of origin is also encouraging spontaneous returns of IDPs.