YAOUNDE, CAMEROON (September 14, 2007) – Covenant World Relief funds are being used to help provide life-sustaining necessities for Fulani refugees who for two years have been fleeing the Central African Republic (CAR) to escape relentless attacks by rebels and bandits.
The Fulani are of Muslim background and Evangelical Covenant Church missionaries minister to them in CAR and elsewhere.
The refugees – some 26,000 overall – are mainly nomadic Mbororo cattle herders. They have been leaving CAR to avoid having their women and children kidnapped for ransom and their livestock stolen by rebels in Central African Republic’s remote northwest, says Pete Ekstrand, Africa coordinator for the Department of World Mission of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
“The security crisis in western CAR has been going on for several years,” Ekstrand notes. “Fulani started fleeing CAR two years ago – most of them leaving with very meager possessions, if any. Most came across the border without their cattle, which are their livelihood. In numerous cases their cattle were stolen or paid out in ransom to save their children’s lives.”
Ekstrand and Scott Clark, who serves with Wyclife Bible Translators in Cameroon, visited Bertoua, Garoua-Bolai and Ndokayo recently to see the situation first-hand and gain a better understanding of the conditions of the refugees.
“Our assistance came to the area before the first UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) food distribution in early August,” Ekstrand reports. “Now that UNHCR is there, our aid is being directed to those refugees who for some reason are not registered for aid. We are also coming alongside the nutrition centers set up to help malnourished children. Due to the fact that the nutrition centers are not near the food distribution centers, in numerous cases the mothers of these children are not able to receive their monthly rations.”
Refugees are living in more than 50 sites spread across thousands of square kilometers on the Central African border, reports the Reuters News Agency. It estimated that 15-18 percent of infants among the refugees are malnourished and that in some areas, the rate of infant mortality is six to seven times the threshold normally used to denote an emergency situation, Reuters notes..
UNHCR has committed to providing relief aid for six months (through January 2008), with food distributions every month. Covenant World Relief will provide two additional distributions of food and supplies and will help with other needs at the nutrition centers. Other partners in this effort include the Baptist General Conference, the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE), SIL Cameroon, the International Christian Church of Yaounde, Multnomah Bible College, the Rain Forest International School senior class, and Medical Centers of West Africa.
“The good news is that Covenant World Relief is there to encourage these people, helping to save the lives of Fulani men, women and children,” Ekstrand adds.
