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CAR + 3 more

West and Central Africa: Weekly Regional Humanitarian Snapshot (2 - 8 January 2018)

Attachments

CAR/CHAD
ARMED CLASHES DISPLACE OVER 30,000
Armed clashes have forced more than 25,000 people to seek refuge in Paoua, a town in northern CAR. Fighting erupted on 28 December between rival armed groups in the north of the town. Around 2,000 houses in several villages have been burned down or destroyed. Food, basic household utensils and protection are the main humanitarian needs. Aid organisations are mobilising assistance. The fighting has also forced more than 5,000 people to flee to southern Chad, the largest influx in 2017. Many are reporting widespread human rights abuses committed by the armed groups, UNHCR reported. Chad hosts over 75,000 refugees from CAR. Violence has surged across CAR over the past year, worsening the dire human suffering and complicating aid delivery.

CAR
ATTACKS DEPRIVE OVER 13,000 OF HEALTHCARE
Around 13,500 people in two localities in the north-western Ouham prefecture have been deprived of healthcare and education since October 2017 following attacks in which armed assailants destroyed property and set fire to health centres. More than 2,000 people have fled to nearby towns for safety. An interagency needs assessment is to be conducted in the coming days.

NIGERIA
FARMER-HERDER CLASHES DISPLACE OVER 40,000
More than 40,000 people have been displaced following clashes that erupted on 1 January between farmers and herders in the south-eastern Benue state. The fighting also claimed more than 30 lives. The state authorities have established camps to accommodate the displaced. Clashes between nomadic Fulani herdsmen and farming communities have been on the rise in the north-central and north-east regions including Adamawa state where hundreds were displaced in two localities in December following similar attacks.

NIGERIA
FOOD TOPS IDPs UNMET NEEDS
Sixty-nine per cent of people displaced by conflict in Nigeria’s north-east say food is their main unmet need, according to IOM’s December 2017 survey conducted among 21,750 respondents. Basic household items, shelter and medical services are the other unmet needs. Aid organizations continue to scale up food assistance to the conflict affected. WFP provides food assistance to around 1 million people every month. FAO is currently running dry season farming assistance to more than 700,000 people in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

SENEGAL
THIRTEEN KILLED IN GUN ATTACK
Unknown gunmen shot dead 13 people on 6 January in Senegal’s southern Casamance region, the army reported. The identity of the assailants or their motive remain unclear. The victims were attacked as they were collecting firewood near a town close to the border with Guinea-Bissau. The Movement of Democratic Forces for Casamance, a separatist militia, has operated in the region since 1982 and is one of Africa’s longest running rebellions. It denied being behind the attack. In November 2017, a group of people looking for firewood was also attacked in the same area.

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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
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