CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Prime minister visits flooded area

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

BANGUI, 12 Aug 2005 (IRIN) - Prime Minister Elie Dote said on Friday the government would do all it could to help the thousands of residents affected by flood waters in parts of the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), after torrential rains battered the area last weekend.

"I have seen what happened in this area and the affected population needs help," he told reporters after inspecting Lingussa, one of the Bangui's neighbourhoods.

Despite the shortage of funds, he said, the government had to help alleviate the plight of the victims. The CAR Red Cross Society has said in its latest emergency appeal that, provisionally, 9,076 people are affected. However, with many people having sought shelter elsewhere this figure could not be verified immediately.

Earlier this week, the programme coordinator of the CAR Red Cross, Alphonse Zarambaud, said roughly 6,500 people were made homeless on Sunday by the rains and floods. There were no deaths reported and flood waters had started to recede by Friday.

"The situation is not one of extreme urgency because some people are living with their families," Xavier Pérez Morelia, the coordinator-general of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the CAR, said in Bangui.

However, he said the potential for a malarial outbreak was real. He said MSF had not received a request for help from either the government or the CAR Red Cross. On Tuesday, the government, through Social Affairs Minister Marie-Solange Pagonendji N'Dakala, appealed on radio to individuals, private businesses, local NGOs and the international community to help.

The CAR Red Cross has said it needs food and non-food items and Zarambaud said a list detailing the quanties and items needed to should be complete this weekend for it to launch an appeal.

Prime Minister Dote's visit to the affected area - with the ministers of communication, of urbanisation, and of social welfare - followed reports that the floods had not seriously affected the southern part of Bangui.

[CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Homeless thousands in urgent need of aid after heavy rains, minister says]

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