Italy will contribute 2 million euro to humanitarian efforts in the Central African Republic, according to an announcement at the donors conference convened yesterday in Brussels by European Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs Kristalina Georgieva and head of the Coordination Office for Humanitarian Questions of the UN (OCHA) Valerie Amos.
2 projects: children, education, healthcare and food security
The Italian Cooperation will immediately activate a one-million euro child protection and education project through UNICEF. At a later stage a second project, valued also at one million euro, will be activated in the healthcare and food security sector, which could be carried out through the Italian NGOs already active in that country, conditions permitting. This new intervention by the Italian Cooperation follows initiatives already launched in 2013 for a value of over 500,000 euro.
Announcement at donors conference organised in Brussels by EU/UN
The crisis in the Central African Republic was another of the main topics of discussion at the FAC in Brussels. The foreign ministers unanimously approved the operational planning of a European military intervention in the Central African Republic in support of the African and French forces, expressing its deep concern over the extremely unstable and unsafe situation there. Parallel to the FAC meeting, a donors conference, organised in Brussels under the aegis of the UN and the EU, announced total donations of 366 million euro for humanitarian aid to the populations of the Central African Republic affected by the crisis.
900,000 civilians estimated displaced as a result of violence
The crisis in the Central African Republic grows increasingly worrying. The World Food Program warned yesterday that, as a result of the lack of security on the streets of the country, and in particular, the road connecting Central Africa to Cameroon, 30 trucks carrying rice to the people had had to turn back at the border, the resulting risk being that food supplies across the country will begin to run out.
According to UN estimates, in the wake of the recent violence reported in that country, there are still 900,000 displaced civilians, over half of whom in the capital of Bangui, while 2.6 million – nearly half the country’s entire population – are in need of protection and assistance, particularly with regard to access to healthcare services.
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