Fighting and the lack of infrastructure are making it almost impossible to get aid into the Central African Republic. After several weeks delay, a food convoy has just arrived in Bangui. Many more are needed.
Herve Massi has been waiting a full month for this moment – along with hundreds of thousands of other internally displaced people in the Central African Republic.
A father of two children, he has just received five kilograms of peas, 30 kilograms of cornmeal and one and half liters of oil from the UN World Food Program (WFP). "Without these supplies we would be lost. We can't secure enough food on our own because of the fighting," he told DW.
But these rations are not enough to feed a family.
"They'll last perhaps for two weeks if we mix them with some cassava. Most people don't have any money by any supplementary items. We appeal to the international community to send us some sugar and milk," said Massi, whose five year old son is already showing signs of nutrition disorders.
It is the third time in two months that Massi and the other internally displaced people have received food aid. The urgently needed relief only arrives intermittently in crisis-hit Central African Republic. On Tuesday (25.02.2014) a WFP convoy drove into the capital Bangui for the first time in weeks. The 100 or so trucks had been forced to wait in neighboring Cameroon before they were allowed to continue their journey to CAR under a heavily armed escort.
Hundreds of thousands of people, like Herve Massi and his children, now live as best as they can in temporary shelter - in camps, churches, schools, mosques and at the airport. There they are protected by peacekeeping troops from the marauding militia. But the conditions in these makeshift camps are catastrophic – hardly any drinking water, far too few toilets and nothing to eat.
Half the country is waiting for food aid
"The main challenge is to get food inside the country," said Alexis Masciarelli from the WFP. Two weeks ago his organization had just 85 tons of rice left in its warehouse in Bangui. Under normal circumstances that would be food for just three days.
The reason for the delay in bringing in more supplies was 600 kilometer (372 miles) stretch of road that runs from Cameroon to Bangui.
For the complete article, please see Deutsche Welle.
