CAR - Sudan refugees - 13 April 2025
Description
STORY: CAR / SUDAN THREE YEARS WAR
TRT: 2:27
SOURCE: OCHA
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT OCHA ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 9-11 APRIL 2026, BIRAO, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Shotlist
09 APRIL 2026, BIRAO, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
1. Various shots, Fatna preparing to start frying donuts
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatha Saleh Youssouf, Sudanese refugee:
“Hi. My name is Fatna Saleh Youssouf. I came from Sudan. I’m grateful to humanitarian actors who assisted me. They gave me wheat flour, sugar, yeast, cooking oil and salt. Even if I’m not moving, I can still run a small business.”
3. Various shots, Fatna frying and packing donuts for her customers
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatha Saleh Youssouf, Sudanese refugee:
“I sell donuts each morning. After selling, taking out what I spent to buy wheat flour, cooking oil and sugar, I can make 1 US dollars profit, 2 US dollars profit or more. I suffered a lot when I got here. I didn’t have anyone to help me. After getting registered, humanitarian actors started assisting me. It allowed me to stay here and run this small business to live. I lost my leg during the war in Sudan. An explosive hit our home.”
FILE – OCTOBER 2025, BIRAO, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
4. Various shots, Sudanese refugees in Birao during a visit by various humanitarian organizations
Storyline
Despite a relative decline in international attention, the humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) remains severe and largely ignored. 2.3 million people – 35 percent of the population - live in extreme vulnerability – well beyond what humanitarian assistance alone can address. Conflicts particularly in the southeast and west, epidemics, and climate-related chocs continue to be the root causes of vulnerabilities that lead to humanitarian needs. Without renewed visibility, solidarity, and political engagement, this silent crisis risks deepening and fueling regional instability.
Regional dynamics are exacerbating already fragile conditions. The war in Sudan has driven significant population movements into the CAR, which hosts 35,048 Sudanese refugees as of March 2026, particularly in Birao in the Vakaga Prefecture, northwest where the population has doubled since, straining already scarce resources. Over 120 humanitarian bases belonging to 60 organizations closed since 2025 due to underfunding, including six in Vakaga hosting 62 per cent of Sudanese refugees. Without immediate, robust, sustainable, targeted, and flexible support, CAR risks a deepening humanitarian emergency that could undermine the wider region.
Despite these challenges, Fatna Saleh Youssouf, a single mother of one who lost her leg in an explosion during the war in Sudan, refuses to give up. Thanks to the support she has received from humanitarian organizations, she sells doughnuts to provide for herself and her child, embodying resilience and hope for thousands of Sudanese refugees.