Skip to content

Millions of people are without life-saving aid due to the fuel crisis

Widespread fuel shortages and related unrest are resulting in millions of people unable to access much-needed aid in the Central African Republic and Haiti, humanitarian organisations have warned.

I spoke to Michael Walker, the Director of Analysis and Research at International NGO Safety Organisation (INSO) – an organisation which monitors and reports on aid workers’ safety – about the impacts the fuel crisis is having in the countries where it works.

Michael said that in Haiti, soaring fuel prices and changes to fuel subsidies is causing unrest. A gang blockade at a fuel terminal in the capital, which was recently broken up after being in place for two months, led to a fuel shortage that forced many hospitals to close and hampered efforts to distribute food, water and medicine, amid a rising cholera outbreak.
Humanitarian aid is being distributed in the Central African Republic
Humanitarian aid being distributed in the Central African Republic. Photograph: Flora Sambia/ICRC.
Many NGOs are reporting on the impact of the crisis.

Mercy Corps said while it continues to develop contingency plans, the situation means many people did not have access to lifesaving services, in a nation where more than 4 million people are food insecure.

Italian NGO AVSI Foundation said it has had to scale back assistance for severely malnourished people in some rural areas because staff members could not reach them, and according to Save the Children, Haiti’s fuel shortage was preventing water pumps from working and could force people to use unsafe sources to drink.

The United Nations’ Deputy Special Representative in the country, Ulrika Richardson, said that sanitation has been severely impacted.

“We haven’t had waste collection for months because of the violent situation, the violence on the streets caused by the armed gangs, but also because of the fuel shortage,” she said.

Bottles of water as aid being delivered by helicopter
Some NGOs are struggling to get aid, including bottled water, to remote areas due to the fuel crisis. Photograph: Photos_adil/AdobeStock.

In the Central African Republic, high prices for fuel and difficulty obtaining it is also having an impact on NGOs’ abilities to respond to need, Michael told me.

“They are actually having to limit their movements, particularly out of population centres and the capital, because they just can’t afford fuel,” he said.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said that the “alarming” fuel shortage in the Central African Republic has seen its operations reduce by 50 percent across the country, at a time of acute humanitarian need. It says water, sanitation and shelter programmes are the most affected as they require fuel due to the use of transport trucks.

A World Food Programme plane at the Kaga Bandoro airfield in CAR
The fuel shortage means that most humanitarian flights within the Central African Republic have been suspended or postponed, preventing aid workers from reaching people in need. Photograph: Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC.

Its Country Director in the Central African Republic, Tchatat Yakwa Godain Powel, said donor countries need to consider the increase in prices and scale up their responses.

“If the funding is not urgently increased, the impact of the war in Ukraine will continue pulling a country largely weakened by years of conflict into a downward spiral,” he said.

The header image of families receiving aid in the Central African Republic was sourced from Gerald Bikombi/IFRC.

Published inFuel crisis

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *