Refugee-hosting families in distress

The situation of DRC refugees hosted by local families in the CAR capital, Bangui, is deteriorating as the resources of the local population will soon be exhausted, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said. In an update received by IRIN, IFRC said tensions are rising in Bangui and the situation will be aggravated by the presidential election campaign expected to start soon. Some 7,500 refugees crossed the river to CAR following the outbreak of fighting in Equateur province in December 1998/January 1999. Some were sheltered in a UNHCR-assisted transit camp in Bangui, while some 2,500 were accommodated with friends and relatives in the city. The Bangui transit camp was closed in February and some 300 refugees have so far been transferred to a new camp at Boubou, some 300 km from Bangui, where they have been allocated plots of land to promote self-sufficiency, the report said. Living conditions for the refugees are more favourable at Boubou than in Bangui, it said. The local Red Cross Society urgently requires additional funds for its refugee assistance efforts, the report added.