UN agency transfers Congolese displaced in North Kivu to safer camps

Reacting to a humanitarian crisis which has driven hundreds of thousands of Congolese from their homes in the volatile North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations refugee agency today announced a new drive to transfer the displaced to safer shelter.

Jennifer Pagonis, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva that the Congolese who have been uprooted by violence are being moved “from congested makeshift settlements with very difficult living conditions to a new camp set up by UNHCR which has the essential basic facilities.”

A first group of 500 people moved from Ndosho – a makeshift settlement of some 1,000 people with no drinking water or basic sanitation – to the new camp at Buhimba six kilometres west of Goma, the main town in the area, she said.

Buhimba is the second camp developed by UNHCR for IDPs in the Mugunga area and it can accommodate more than 10,000 people. Bulengo, the first camp, reached its capacity of 10,000 IDPs at the end of September.

Meanwhile, displaced people continuing to arrive at sites around Goma. Aid agencies estimate over 370,000 IDPs have been displaced in North Kivu since December 2006.

“We fear many IDPs remain in areas inaccessible to humanitarian agencies as people continue to flee insecurity and fighting between the government forces, renegade troops and rebels in many parts of North Kivu,” said Ms. Pagonis.

“We are working closely with the authorities to identify additional sites.”