EU budgets over 11 BFCFA to assist refugees, IDPs in Cameroon.



The European Uion, EU has budgeted a little over 11 billion FCFA to cater for refugees and displaced persons across Cameroon in 2023.

This is according to the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations. In a note on Cameroon last updated Monday, the orgaisation said the country plays host to 976.000 Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs. The EU attributes the figures to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA.

 It also maintains that as at October 2022, the country had 503,000 refugees from neighouring Nigeria and the Central African Republic, CAR.

While maintaining that since 2020 it has invested over 150 billion FCFA in humanitarian aid to Cameroon, the money for 2023, the institution maintains, will be used to assist IDPs, strengthen communities hosting IDPs in the Far North North, North West, South West and Littoral regions.

Focus, the EU disclosed, will be “on providing food, safe drinking water and sanitation, primary health careshelter, livelihoods support, protection and education”.

Last year, the amount allocated for similar purposes was over 19 billion FCFA. This included over 42 million FCFA meant to address the shocks of the Russia-Ukraine war on food availability.

According the EU, “the food situation has significantly deteriorated in the Far North. This, combined with the persistence of conflict and the adverse impact of natural hazards and epidemics, is sapping the ability of the most vulnerable people to cater for their basic needs”.

Investments will touch on a flood response to repair over 48000 hectares of farmland destroyed which affected over 70,000 people.

New emergencies not unconnected to COVID-19, the EU also noted, will be covered by part of the new aid bundle programmed for Cameroon.

In its note on the humanitarian situation in Cameroon, the EU noted that, “given the protracted nature of the displacement (especially of Central African refugees), aid efforts are also being directed at improving their livelihoods, self-reliance and to supporting them with durable solutions”.

Work will also be carried out to ensure long term development. Importance is given to linking immediate humanitarian assistance to longer-term schemes that will make communities more resilient especially in the Far North region. Here, the EU is looking at education and health sectors.

 

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