Government pledges €3.2m in urgent aid

The Government will provide €3.2 million in urgent humanitarian assistance to communities affected by conflict and drought in the Central African Republic, Chad and Yemen.

The aid was announced by Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan and Minister of State for Development Seán Sherlock.

“Forgotten crises often receive less international attention and funding than is required to meet even the most basic human needs - access to clean water, food and shelter,” Mr Flanagan said. “The vast majority of those affected are vulnerable women and children, and they need our continued help.”

The Minister said that, in the Central African Republic alone, 2.5 million people are in immediate need of humanitarian assistance, with crisis levels of food insecurity affecting almost half of the population.

“We provided over €68 million in humanitarian support to crises in 2014 and will continue this strong commitment into the New Year.”

From this fund, €1 million will go to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees response in Chad and €600,000 will go to Plan Ireland to provide education for refugee children displaced from the Central African Republic into Cameroon.

Unicef said 2.3 million children were affected by conflict in the Central African Republic this year. Up to 10,000 children are believed to have been recruited by armed groups over the last year and more than 430 have been killed or maimed during the same period.