The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued an alert on Thursday regarding the impact of armed violence on civilians in southeastern parts of the Central African Republic (CAR). Though the situation has improved in parts of the country, violence continues to exacerbate the situation in several regions, including the southeast, where approximately 50,000 people require humanitarian assistance.
“On Sunday and Monday, an ambush in the Mboki region killed several civilians and heightened intercommunal tensions — that’s what local sources are telling us,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Thursday, during a press briefing in New York.
“Several homes were burned, and the violence displaced about 1,000 people, who reportedly sought safety at a Catholic church in the region.”
Mboki has seen repeated clashes, with humanitarian access made extremely difficult due to insecurity and poor telecommunications. Last week, two staff members of a local non-governmental organization (NGO) working in the area were injured by stray bullets.
The NGO has been partnering with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) to provide food, protection, as well as water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) support as part of a project backed by the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
Conflict, insecurity, and displacement continue to drive the humanitarian crisis
The Central African Republic has been one of the world's most neglected humanitarian crises for several years in a row. Ravaged by violence since 2012, the country is in dire need of support. Nearly 40 percent of the population, or about 2.4 million people, require humanitarian assistance in 2025. This includes approximately 1.1 million children.
Over the past decade, CAR has been affected by conflict and the continued presence of armed groups. Civilians continue to experience violence, including attacks on healthcare facilities, gender-based violence, and other human rights and international humanitarian law violations, as well as the impact of natural disasters linked to climate change, such as flooding. Each of these factors contributes to new displacement.
Currently, one in six Central Africans is displaced, either internally or externally, primarily to neighboring countries, due to conflict, violence, a lack of basic services, and extreme weather events. The total number of displaced people exceeds 1.1 million, including over 674,000 refugees in neighboring countries and approximately 447,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), with 85 percent staying with host families.
The humanitarian situation in CAR has improved significantly over the past three years as security has improved in some areas. This has enabled hundreds of thousands of people to integrate locally or return to their areas of origin since 2022.
However, with one-sixth of its population having been forced to flee, CAR remains the country with the third-highest level of forced displacement in Africa, after Sudan and South Sudan. Most refugees have fled to Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chad.
Humanitarian needs in the country remain acute and widespread. According to OCHA, approximately 38 percent of the population is in such dire circumstances that "humanitarian assistance alone will not be enough for their well-being."
Despite the security improvements in some areas, the overall situation remains alarming, especially in the north-west and east and, to a lesser extent, in the center. Clashes between parties to the conflict and attacks on civilians and infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals, persist.
In 2025, humanitarian agencies aim to assist 1.8 million of the most vulnerable Central Africans, for which they require US$326.1 million. However, only $120.8 million — 37 percent — of the required funding has been received thus far, and humanitarian actors have only reached a fraction of those targeted.
Food insecurity threatens millions
According to the most recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, released last month, approximately 1.92 million people currently face high levels of acute food insecurity, classified as IPC Phase 3 or worse. This includes 269,000 people experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 4) and nearly 1.66 million people experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 3).
The main drivers of hunger in CAR remain armed conflict, particularly in the north and south of the country, frequent displacement, and poor agricultural production. The IPC analysis indicates that the most affected households include farmers with poor harvests and carry over stocks, as well as IDPs and refugees living in host communities with limited resources.
During the lean season, from April to August 2026, ongoing conflict and high food prices are expected to exacerbate the situation, with around 2.29 million people projected to experience high levels of acute food insecurity. This includes an estimated 400,000 individuals facing emergency levels and over 1.9 million individuals facing crisis levels of acute hunger.
Meanwhile, over 228,000 children under five are suffering from or are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition, including over 61,500 children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). The IPC predicts that the nutritional situation will deteriorate significantly in the coming months due to high rates of diseases such as diarrhea, malaria, and acute respiratory infections.