Thousands of Congolese flee sustained fighting in North Kivu, UN says

Thousands of people continue to flee their homes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as fighting continues between the Army and dissident forces in the eastern part of North Kivu province, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today.

UN and other humanitarian agencies are particularly concerned about people whom have fled the Kiberezi area to surrounding hills and forests and are surviving in the bush with no shelter, water, food or access to assistance.

Kiberezi’s normal population is around 40,000, but there are now only about 2,000 people in the area as 30,000 people have fled to the town of Kanyabayonga while others fled to the countryside.

“The extent of the violence and abuse faced by displaced people in North Kivu is extremely serious and very shocking,” said Ralf Gruenert, UNHCR’s Deputy Representative in DRC, who is now in the area.

Villagers returning to Kiberezi say protection is their most crucial need, followed by water, food and shelter. “These people who were forced to leave their homes and stayed in the region are far more at risk than those who managed to seek refuge in Uganda,” said Mr. Gruenert.

The vast majority of the civilians impacted by the fighting are not crossing borders. For example, in late January about 20,000 Congolese crossed into neighbouring Uganda and most returned to the DRC after a few days. About 3,000 asked for asylum in Uganda and have been moved to permanent settlements away from the border.

UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) officials reported today that a four-truck convoy managed to reach a small village near Bunia, which had been surrounded by army and rebel combatants. The UNICEF convoy provided about 6,000 people with a month’s supply of food in the area, which is located in the Ituri Province in the eastern part of the country.

While the situation in North Kivu worries humanitarian officials, other parts of eastern DRC are also suffering. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said about 1,200 people die each day from the armed conflict, malnutrition and disease in the country.

Further south in Katanga province, for example, tens of thousands of people have been displaced by sustained violence and atrocities against civilians, including rapes, murders and house-burning, have been reported.

“Security is the key to the protection of civilians and to the delivery of adequate humanitarian assistance,” Mr. Gruenert said. Officials from UNHCR and the UN peacekeeping force in DRC (MONUC) are raising the matter with all concerned, he added, stressing that the Government “needs to take its responsibility and fulfil its duty to protect civilians.”

At least 1.7 million people, mostly in the east of the country, remain internally displaced within the DRC. Under a UN plan to strengthen protection and assistance to internally displaced people (IDPs), the refugee agency is sending staff to the eastern provinces to help coordinate the IDP work of UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the Congolese Government.

Traditionally, the world’s millions of IDPs have been one of the most vulnerable groups during wars and conflict because they do not fall under the specific mandate of any international body.

Meanwhile, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, will co-host a European Union (EU) ministerial meeting on the DRC in Brussels on Monday.