Thousands flee renewed fighting in Central African Republic, UN agency says

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Friday that thousands of people from the Central African Republic (CAR) have crossed the border into Chad and Cameroon to escape renewed tension and fighting since mid-June.

UNHCR staff in southern Chad have helped the government's national refugee commission register more than 5,000 CAR refugees in the villages of Sourouh and Mini, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, told reporters here on Friday.

A further 555 refugees have crossed to Yamba village in eastern Cameroon, he said.

Before the new influx, the UNHCR and its partners were providing protection and assistance to over 67,000 CAR refugees in southern Chad and some 260,000 in Cameroon, he said.

There were also 415,000 internally displaced people within CAR, he said, adding that the UNHCR has so far only 11 percent of the funding needed for its CAR operations.

The CAR has been rocked by deadly violence between Muslims and Christians since 2013. Endit