Over 1 mln children urgently need assistance in CAR: UNICEF

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on Friday said an estimated 1.2 million children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance nearly three years after conflict erupted in the Central African Republic.

UNICEF called on all parties to the conflict to grant unrestricted access to organizations seeking to aid those affected by the crisis.

"The violence that has plagued this country has had a devastating impact on the lives of children," said Mohamed Fall, UNICEF's Representative in the Central African Republic.

"The humanitarian needs are overwhelming, to meet them we need access and we need greater international support, " Fall added.

UNICEF estimated that more than two million children have been affected by the violence which first broke out in December 2012 and reached crisis levels in December 2013 following clashes that led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands in the capital, Bangui.

Nearly 400,000 people remain displaced within the country, and renewed clashes in September created an additional 39,000 internally displaced people in Bangui. A further half a million people are living as refugees in neighboring countries.

Even in those areas not affected by the fighting, communities continue to need support. Around one third of the population has no access to safe drinking water and 41 percent of children under five are chronically malnourished.

Despite the scale of the emergency, UNICEF has received 37 million U.S. dollars, or just over 50 percent, of the 70.9 million U.S. dollars required to provide urgent lifesaving interventions for the most vulnerable in 2015. Endit