The EU Ambassador Laurence Argimon-Pistre Moderated the Side Event: "Exchange on Food Insecurity in the Central African Republic (CAR)" 

The event saw the participation of the Head of the EU Delegation, Mrs. Laurence Argimon-Pistre, as moderator, and as panellist: Mrs. Susanne Mallaun Head of Unit East, West and Southern Africa, Indian Ocean at DG ECHO,the  WFP Regional Director for West Africa Mr. Denise Brown and  FAO Director of the Emergency and Rehabilitation Division, Mr Dominique Burgeon.

The Head of the EU Delegation, Mrs. Laurence Argimon-Pistre, introduced the critical humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic and expressed her concerns that CAR is turning into a forgotten crisis.

Mrs. Mallaun described the serious situation in the country with more than 2.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, 450.000 internally displaced people and 460.000 refugees in neighbouring countries.  She explained that the European Commission has provided over EUR 255 million since 2014 to CAR. At the moment the Commission humanitarian assistance targets mainly four sectors: food Security and Nutrition Health, Water Supply and Sanitization and  protection to civilians.

Mr. Denise Brown, Regional Director West Africa WFP, explained that 50% of the population in CAR suffer from hunger with 35.3% of the population facing "Moderately Food Insecure" and the 15.2% "Severely Food Insecure". Mr. Brown underlined that the categories most affected by the crisis are women and children and that WFP is trying to focus on the most affected areas, preventing malnutrition, paving the way for the recovery of livelihood and reinforcing cross country supply corridors.

Mr. Burgeon, Director of Emergency and Rehabilitation Division at FAO, explained that agricultural sector offers the most opportunities for economic growth, therefore income, particularly among the youth and returnees who are seeking work. He made an appeal to the Partners for covering the needs of FAO for 2016 in CAR, US$ 86 million to assist 1.5 million people.   He also mentioned the tweeting campaign that FAO, WFP and ECHO are launching in order to highlight the worrying situation of the country, with common hashtag #CARcantwait. 

World Food Programme Presentation- Central African Republic   [3 MB]

FAO Presentation - Central African Republic  [113 KB]

European Commission Factsheet- Central African Republic  [613 KB]