France give four NGOs US $142,733

France has given 78.7 million francs CFA (US $131,000) to support four humanitarian NGOs active in the Central African Republic, an official at the French embassy in the capital, Bangui, told IRIN on Monday. The donation will be used to assist the displaced and other war-affected people, a counsellor and head of the humanitarian section of the French embassy, Jean Pierre Galtier, said. He said the donation was shared among Roman Catholic NGOs Caritas and the Commission Episcopale Justice et Paix (CEJP), another religious NGO, the Association des Oeuvres Medicales des Eglises de Centrafrique (ASSOMESCA); and the Association de Developpment Economique et Social de Kouango(ADESK), an organisation based in Kouango, 416 km northeast of Bangui. Galtier said Caritas received food, household equipment and drugs worth 23 million franc ($41,714), while CEJP received similar aid worth 8.9 million francs ($16,141). The food aid comprised milk powder, rice, sugar, salt, wheat flour and tea leaves. The equipment included paraffin lamps, soap, buckets, mattresses, clothes, bed sheets, blankets, kitchen utensils and mosquito nets. "The budget is flexible, depending on the needs," he said. He added that the Delegation à l’Action Humanitaire, an inter-ministerial humanitarian office in France, had granted the money. The relief aid, he said, was primarily given for internally displaced persons in Bangui and throughout the country, as well as the families who had accommodated the displaced. Victims of looting, violence, armed robbery or those whose homes were destroyed would also benefit from the aid, he said. The distribution of the food aid is currently taking place in Bangui’s suburbs and in surrounding areas, he added. Galtier said ASSOMESCA was distributing drugs in Sibut and Dekoa, 185 km and 259 km northeast of Bangui, respectively, and ADESK had received aid for Kouango residents. The areas targeted for relief aid were greatly affected by conflict between rebels and government troops between October 2002 and March 2003. The war ended when Francois Bozize ousted President Ange-Felix Patasse on 15 March. However, thousands of residents in the north and the northwest had been displaced and continued insecurity had hindered humanitarian activities and prevented the displaced from returning to their homes. After the coup, warehouses belonging to the UN World Food Programme were looted, forcing the agency to suspend the delivery of food aid.