Extreme Poverty in Resource-Rich Central African Republic

re posted from                        Presstv.com

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/11/29/495616/un-car-humanitarian-aid

Tue Nov 29, 2016 1:43AM
A man builds a tent at sunset in the newly formed camp for internally displaced persons in Kaga Bandoro in the northern Central African Republic, on October 19, 2016. (Photo by AFP)
A man builds a tent at sunset in the newly formed camp for internally displaced persons in Kaga Bandoro in the northern Central African Republic, on October 19, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Almost half of the Central African Republic’s population of over four million people are in dire need of humanitarian aid, says the United Nations.  

“Humanitarian efforts are critical to save lives of people who are among the poorest and most forgotten on this planet,” said the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Central African Republic, Fabrizio Hochschild, in a statement released on Monday.

In March 2013, the Central African Republic toppled into chaos when then-President Francois Bozize was ousted by the mainly Seleka rebel alliance and was replaced by Michel Am-Nondokro Djotodia, the first Muslim to hold the presidency in the generally-Christian nation.

The coup, however, caused a series of deadly retaliatory attacks between the Seleka rebels and Christian militia known as anti-balaka, who reacted by engaging in large-scale attacks against the minority Muslims.

“We need political dialogue, we need reconciliation, we need development, we need generation of employment, and we need humanitarian aid,” added Hochschild.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), hundreds of people have been killed and many more displaced since a deadly series of clashes broke out in the country in September.

During the last spate of clashes alone, 85 people were killed as armed militias started to hunt down and kill members of the Fulani ethnic group.

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