The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday it was concerned about the impact of armed violence on civilians in the southeast of the Central African Republic (CAR).

OCHA cited local sources reporting ambushes in the Mboki region on Sunday and Monday, which killed several civilians and heightened intercommunal tensions. Several homes were burned, and the violence displaced about 1,000 people, who reportedly sought safety at a Catholic church in the region.

Mboki has seen repeated clashes, OCHA said, with humanitarian access extremely difficult due to insecurity and poor telecommunications.

Last week, two staff members of a local nongovernmental organization working in the area were injured by stray bullets. They had been operating with the UN Population Fund to provide food, protection, and water, sanitation and hygiene support, the office said.

OCHA said that while the situation had improved in some parts of the CAR, violence continues to intensify needs in other regions where 50,000 people require humanitarian assistance.

The International Crisis Group reported on its website that in its November CAR report, it found that overall security in the country had improved. "While the state no longer faces an existential threat, pockets of insecurity persist in rural areas, where fighters seek to take over mining sites or engage in banditry," the report said.