630,000 IDPs back in home areas

With the ceasefire holding since January, displaced civilians have been returning to their homes in increasing numbers. Of an estimated 810,000 displaced persons (including tens of thousands of refugees), more than 630,000 had returned to their places of origin by July, according to OCHA statistics. “Humanitarian access has also improved dramatically throughout the country and areas previously under the control of non-state actors [militias] are steadily reintegrating with the rest of the country,” OCHA stated in its July situation report, released on Wednesday. Overall, the most serious humanitarian needs were decreasing, while some - especially in the areas of malnutrition and basic health structures - were still quite critical, it said. As of July, most affected areas in the southern regions of the country had been reached and visited by humanitarian agencies, but a number of localities remained without assistance, especially in the areas of health and social reintegration, due to a lack of capacity. There were fewer than 15 international NGOs active in the country, an issue that had been underlined in coordination meetings, OCHA stated. Access to the northern regions of the country was more problematic, with UNHCR and its NGO partners unable to reach most of the isolated refugee populations coming from DRC along the Ubangui River, which was creating a potential nutritional and sanitary crisis, it added.