WFP to conclude emergency programme for IDPs in north

The World Food Programme (WFP) will on 16 August conclude a three-month emergency food distribution programme to an estimated 6,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) at two sites in northern Central African Republic (CAR), some 400 km north of the capital, Bangui. The programme was initiated as a result of several missions conducted jointly in February by WFP and the CAR Ministry of Social Affairs, when residents were forced to flee armed conflict in the northern part of the country, near the border with Chad. Hostilities in the region have been attributed to longstanding conflict between agriculturalists and pastoralists, aggravated by an influx of arms. In some cases entire villages have been burned. The US $200,000 programme began on 12 June. Monthly distributions have provided each IDP with a month-long daily ration of 400 g of maize flour, 100 g of beans, 25 g of oil and 10 g of salt. "Considering the easy integration of the IDPs in local communities and the return of some of them to their home villages, we hope that this programme would fill the gap created by the destroyed granaries and crops. We are sure that by September their maize will be ready for harvest," WFP Programme Officer Albert Bango-Makoudou, who was in Kabo from 16 to 21 July and in Batangafo from 22 to 24 July to supervise food distributions, told IRIN. He added that the seeds for the IDPs had been purchased with funds offered by CAR President Ange-Felix Patasse during his tour of the north in April 2002. Bango-Makoudou attributed the successful IDP integration into local communities to family ties. The IDPs were offered land to cultivate, and have had access to local health care facilities. "The people are not your typical IDPs, as they have family members in Kabo and Batangafo," he said. While the number of IDPs in Kabo and Batangafo remains uncertain, as some return home to cultivate their fields and come back to the camps for food distributions, WFP has estimated their numbers at about 4,500 in Kabo and 1,500 in Batangafo. WFP appointed two food monitors, one at each location, to encourage the IDPs to resume their daily activities and regain self-sufficiency, as WFP aid would soon be curtailed.