Kampala to Obo: The Corridor of Hope for the Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR) is landlocked with almost all trade with the outside world cross the west channelled by road through Cameroon. Most of the country’s 25,000 km road network of which only 600 km are paved — are impassable or inaccessible due to insecurity — with 80% of the territory under the control of armed groups. To better serve tens of thousands of people in need, the World Food Program (WFP) is innovating by transporting its food supplies from the east, Uganda into Obo about 1,250 km south-east of Bangui. This has reignited hope among people in need in the north-east and south-east of the country, where there are new hotbeds of tension.
Obo — Chief town of the prefecture of Haut-Mbomou: Agathe Yakodro still remembers the day when unidentified armed men entered her town of Mboki, 60 km west of Obo, killing many people and uprooting thousands of others from their homes. It was last June and she had to flee to Obo with her husband and four children. Although safe, it was not the end of their misery.
“We did not have anything to eat, our children were forced to eat the almond contained in the palm nut,” she says. “We had not received any assistance yet.”
Thousands of displaced people in Obo, Mboki, Zemio and Bangassou faced almost the same situation. Insecurity and the lack of infrastructure and logistics complicate physical access to people in need.
WFP responded by transporting food by air to serve people in Zemio and Bangassou, respectively 212 and 512 kilometres from Obo. That has provided thousands of people with much needed assistance but the cost of these air operations is high.
“The delivery of food by air is costing too much, more than seven times the cost by road,” says Gaston Sebujogori, WFP’s chief of logistics operations in CAR. “The option for the long term would be to use the corridor Uganda — Obo to supply these areas as quickly as possible,” explains Gaston.
Determined to find a cost efficient and effective means of regularly delivering food and nutrition assistance in these remote parts of CAR, WFP set up the operation of transporting food from Uganda. The Uganda-based Central African Republic Transport company (CAT) successfully completed two test convoys. WFP shipped 149 tons of food to Obo on 8x8 trucks from Kampala in Uganda via the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
“This was the only viable route for us to serve Zémio and Bangassou by road,” says Billy Keïta, WFP’s logistics officer in Bangui.
Moving food through the Kampala — Obo corridor comes with its own challenges, especially the disastrous state of the roads.
“The trucks use routes whose eroded surfaces form craters as deep as 7 metres,” explains Balume Djuma Convoy leader of the CAT Company. “Muddy water comes inside the trucks, but fortunately we have adequate equipment to protect the food.”
In the city of Obo and its environs, WFP’s innovative option of providing food for the tens of thousands of people affected by the crisis, via the Uganda corridor, is viewed as a beacon of hope for many displaced and Congolese refugees (DRC), South Sudanese from the area.
“We are delighted by the wonderful decision by WFP to start moving food by this route,” says Lawrence Mborifué, a refugee from South Sudan. “This corridor will allow WFP to quickly assist these thousands of people in need in Obo and its surroundings.”
It does look like WFP’s strategy to move food via this corridor is bringing a new sense of hope among vulnerable communities that rely on humanitarian assistance. It also sends a strong signal that humanitarian access saves lives.
