A senior U.N. relief official Wednesday stressed the need to act quickly to assist people suffering from food insecurity and malnutrition in the Central African Republic (CAR), after witnessing the alarming situation first-hand during a visit to the strife-torn nation. "Today I heard harrowing stories from ordinary women and children of losing their families in the violence and traumatic attacks that forced them to flee," Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), said after a visit to the northwestern town of Bossangoa. "I am humbled by their strength in these desperate times. We simply cannot deny them the assistance they need, especially after all they have endured," Cousin said.
