BANGUI: An early start to the rainy season in Central African Republic has worsened the plight of hundreds of thousands of people sheltering from religious violence in makeshift camps, raising the risk of malaria and dysentery, aid workers said on Tuesday.
The former French colony has been torn apart by violence that has killed thousands since Seleka, a coalition of mostly Muslim northern rebels, seized power a year ago.
Attacks intensified in December when militias drawn from the majority Christian population stepped up reprisals on Muslims.
With French and African peacekeepers powerless to stem the violence, the UN refugee agency says at least 700,000 people have fled their homes, many of them living wild in the bush or in shambolic camps dotted across the poor, landlocked country.
Six months of heavy rains typically begin in early April but on Sunday a downpour struck the riverside capital, Bangui. In the city's largest camp.
Where 70,000 people are packed together beside the runway of M'poko International Airport, residents waded through up to 30 cms (12 inches) of muddy water.
Most of the displaced have makeshift shelters made from tarpaulins and palm leaves on the swampy soil. "The area is flooded and we cannot sleep properly.
The children are getting sick and the elderly too are getting sick," said Pierrette Yagossa, a student living there. "We aren't getting any aid to build more tents."
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said it was seeking sites in the capital where the soil is more absorbent. "All the conditions are favourable for puddles and standing water, which is always a risk for waterborne diseases like malaria and acute diarrhoea."
said Judith Leveillee, the deputy head of UNICEF in Central African Republic.
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