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Cameroon: UN Announces $4.7 Million to Meet Needs of Refugees
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The Post (Buea)
3 March 2008
Posted to the web 3 March 2008
Edith Wirdze
The United Nations has announced US $4,720,260 (about FCFA 2.1 billion) as allocation from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to meet the humanitarian needs of Chadian refugees in Cameroon's north-eastern town of Kousseri.
The announcement was made in a press briefing at the UN Information Centre in Yaounde on February 26. With this sum, the UN will be able to assist and protect thousands of refugees in the coming weeks.
In a press release from the UN Office of the Resident Coordinator for Cameroon on February 22, the allocation includes grants of US $843,053 for UNHCR which leads the operation, US $1,654,482 for the WFP for two projects, US $843,053 for UNICEF for six different projects, US $330,630 for WHO and US $82,040 for UNFPA.
To ensure the operation's safety, an additional US $122,212 has been allocated for the UN Department of Safety and Security.UNHCR will use the funds to cover assistance for up to 20,000 refugees in Kousseri and to relocate an estimated 15,000 of refugees in the Maltam camp.
Its activities include the provision of emergency assistance, the transport of refugees to Maltam, the registration and establishment in the camp and the provision of non-food items such as plastic sheeting, mats, blankets, mosquito nets, kitchen sets and sanitary items.
WFP will procure and deliver food aid to the refugees and provide storage facilities whereas UNICEF will duel on the domains of immunisation, maternal and neo-natal care, child nutrition, water and sanitation and child protection. It will work together with an NGO, Action Aid, to provide recreational and educational opportunities to children in the camp. WHO on its part, will provide health care, while UNFPA will carry out activities for reproductive health and gender-based violence.
Talking to the press, the Associate Information Officer for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in N'Djamena, Katy Thiam, stated that, so far, 2,406 refugees have been relocated to Maltam. She said over 35,000 children were vaccinated against poliomyelitis, over 32,000 for measles and 34,000 for Vitamin A Supplement tablets.
Vaccination for meningitis will be conducted in the days ahead with 35,000 doses of vaccines already pre-positioned.To avoid the spread of sexually transmitted infections among refugees, some male and female contraceptives were provided by UNFPA.
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The refugees started to cross the border into Cameroon on February 2, when arm fighting erupted in Chad. In order to protect them, the Maltam Camp, some 32 km from Kousseri, was created and the relocation of refugees from Kousseri to the camp started on February 16.
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