Relief operation begins in Markounda - UN official

UN agencies and NGOs in Central African Republic have decided to begin relief aid operations to the country's northwest by first helping civilians in and around the border town of Markounda, a UN official said on Monday. "We are providing assistance to 2,000 persons in Markounda, Bodjomo, Bemal and other villages hit by the latest violence in the area," Bruno Geddo, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) delegate in the capital, Bangui, said. "Our action aims at solving the problems of internal refugees by alleviating their suffering." Justifying the choice of Markounda as the starting point of the relief aid operation, Geddo said: "CARITAS and MSF [Medecines Sans Frontieres-Holland] are present on the ground and CARITAS will provide a depot to keep all the food and non-food items in Markounda." The decision follows an aid strategy meeting on Friday, chaired by the representative of the UN Development Programme, Malika Akrouf. Thousands of people in the northwestern provinces of Ouham and Ouham-Pende have been displaced in the recent past following fighting between the army and armed groups. Geddo said the aid initiative would help prevent civilians who had fled their homes from moving to neighbouring Chad to seek refuge. He said the number of those targeted for aid could change, depending on "the situation on the ground". The aid - comprising food and non-food items - would be provided until April when an evaluation mission will have been sent to the area to determine whether or not further help would be necessary. "This operation will not last longer; otherwise the CAR refugees in Chad will prematurely come back home," Geddo said. He said the NGOs COOPI, CARITAS and the local Red Cross would distribute food provided by the UN World Food Programme. The UN Children's Fund would provide plastic sheets, mosquito nets, buckets and water purification tablets and would be backed by MSF-Holland in their distribution.