Office of the Spokesperson
Department of State
Washington, DC
September 27, 2013
The United States announced today it has provided an additional $11.5 million in humanitarian assistance to support protection and assistance activities for the nearly 70,000 new Central African refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Cameroon, and the Republic of the Congo and for some 30,000 new Darfur Sudanese refugees in Chad. This new funding is in addition to nearly $168 million in assistance the United States has provided to refugee operations in these countries.
We remain deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic as ongoing insecurity continues to severely impact the wellbeing of the country’s entire population of approximately 4.5 million people, including almost 400,000 who are displaced internally, as well as outside of the country as refugees. We are also deeply concerned about the situation in Darfur where continuing violence has displaced an estimated 320,000 people this year alone. We call on all parties in these conflicts to ensure the safety of the civilian population and allow unhindered humanitarian access. The United States remains committed to those affected by the recent violence in Sudan and the CAR, and we continue to provide humanitarian assistance for those affected within both Sudan and the CAR, in addition to our support for refugees in neighboring countries.
The United States reaffirms our support and appreciation to those countries hosting refugees from Sudan and the CAR, and commends their efforts to provide protection and assistance to these vulnerable individuals fleeing violence in their home countries.
The $11.5 million from the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration will support the activities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Chad, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the Congo. This funding will support UNHCR in meeting the most critical protection and assistance needs of new refugees, including registration, food, health care, water, education, and gender-based violence prevention and response. The UNICEF funding will support efforts to ensure the protection of refugee children and to provide access to primary education and essential services, such as water and sanitation, reproductive health and HIV services.
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