The United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF has said that majority of children in Central African Republic are in dire need of aid.
The agency in a report said due to conflict two in three children “are in urgent need of aid”.
The report titled Child Alert said the “escalating crisis has left thousands of children trapped within armed groups, and thousands more subjected to sexual violence.”
UNICEF focused on the plights of “children and families in the Central African Republic (CAR), where 1.5 million children now require humanitarian assistance and more than 43,000 under five years of age are at risk of severe acute malnutrition.”
No protection for children
Due to continuous fighting UNICEF said places children “go for protection and support – including schools, hospitals and places of worship” have been destroyed.
Children are therefore “increasingly under attack by the armed groups that control and terrorize around four fifths of the country.”
UNICEF says it is “working to get aid to children in desperate need, often in very dangerous circumstances.”
The UN agency is however unhappy that “the response to the CAR crisis is chronically and critically underfunded.”
Why the conflict in CAR
Muslims and Christians have been involved in violent clashes resulting a civil war that is yet to end.
The civil war started in 2013 after President Francois Bozize, a Christian, was overthrown. His exit was carried out by mainly Muslim Seleka rebels.
Christians, who account for about 80% of the population have been fighting back with a vigilante group.
This year the Militia fighters were accused of kidnapping and raping en masse a large group of women. The crime was carried out in an isolated area of the country.
Despite the deployment of a 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission, rival armed groups still continue to commit violence in countryside.
Source: Africafeeds.com
