It's bad enough to read or hear of tragedies of one sort or another befalling people somewhere in the world, but more than troubling to read of the UN being slammed by no lesser organisation than Doctors without Borders for the UN's lack of humanitarian assistance to those in the Central African Republic.
"In an open letter issued last week, Doctors with Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) slammed the United Nations for what they say is a gross failure to respond with any "adequate humanitarian reaction" to the spiraling humanitarian crisis and the glaring needs of the over 700,000 forcibly displaced people in the Central African Republic (CAR).
"The only actions undertaken by UN aid officials have been the collection of data related to the fighting and a few assessments confirming the need for an immediate response," wrote MSF International President Dr. Joanne Liu. "Repeated evaluations in the face of glaring needs [...] have not led to any concrete action."
The UN estimates that more than 710,000 people have been uprooted since the crisis began following a coup in late March. In the embattled capital of Bangui, some 210,000 have been "forcibly displaced" in the last two weeks alone.
Liu goes on to detail two specific situations in which the UN failed to provide any humanitarian relief, forcing MSF workers to intervene: One in the vicinity of the Bangui airport, where the UN abandoned more than 15,000 displaced people despite repeated calls for "food, tents and soap;" the second, in Bossangoa, when UN workers on security lockdown failed to provide assistance to displaced people sheltering inside the very same compound as they were."
"In an open letter issued last week, Doctors with Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) slammed the United Nations for what they say is a gross failure to respond with any "adequate humanitarian reaction" to the spiraling humanitarian crisis and the glaring needs of the over 700,000 forcibly displaced people in the Central African Republic (CAR).
"The only actions undertaken by UN aid officials have been the collection of data related to the fighting and a few assessments confirming the need for an immediate response," wrote MSF International President Dr. Joanne Liu. "Repeated evaluations in the face of glaring needs [...] have not led to any concrete action."
The UN estimates that more than 710,000 people have been uprooted since the crisis began following a coup in late March. In the embattled capital of Bangui, some 210,000 have been "forcibly displaced" in the last two weeks alone.
Liu goes on to detail two specific situations in which the UN failed to provide any humanitarian relief, forcing MSF workers to intervene: One in the vicinity of the Bangui airport, where the UN abandoned more than 15,000 displaced people despite repeated calls for "food, tents and soap;" the second, in Bossangoa, when UN workers on security lockdown failed to provide assistance to displaced people sheltering inside the very same compound as they were."
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