More than 20,000 people have had to flee violence by armed groups in western Central African Republic so far this month, the United Nations says.
Several armed groups have clashed while fighting for the control of various towns, including Bocaranga and Niem, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Most residents, who were also attacked during the clashes, fled into the bush where they cannot access humanitarian assistance.
In Bocaranga alone, the rebels killed more than 10 people last weekend, resident Michel Nganoundji said on Tuesday.
"Civilians continue to pay a very heavy price for clashes between the armed groups," the OCHA co-ordinator in CAR, Najat Rochdi, said.
The situation was particularly dire because attacks on humanitarian personnel in the area had recently prompted several aid organisations to suspend their work, OCHA said.
A new outbreak of violence in the nation's east was likely to cause a similar need for urgent aid, Rochdi added.
The diamond-rich but poverty-stricken country has been in crisis since late 2012, when violence broke out between Muslim and Christian rebel groups.
