• Text size Normal size text | Increase text size by 10% | Increase text size by 20% | Increase text size by 30%

More than 16,000 Congolese flee violence and seek shelter in Republic of Congo

News Stories, 6 November 2009

© UNHCR/J. Hesemann
A village on the Republic of Congo side of the Oubangui River, which marks the border with Democratic Republic of the Congo.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, November 7 (UNHCR) – More than 16,000 civilians have fled ethnic violence in the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), crossing the Oubangui River into neighbouring Republic of Congo after their villages were torched last week.

A UNHCR team is now visiting them and says the 16,100 Congolese asylum-seekers need proper shelter, food and household items such as blankets, kitchen sets and jerry cans. Once a thorough assessment is made, the refugee agency will work with the Republic of Congo (ROC) government to help them. Some also need medical care, but an overstretched mobile clinic run by a UNHCR partner cannot cope with all their needs.

The Congolese were escaping from a dispute between the Enyele and Munzaya tribes over farming and fishing rights in the village of Dongo, in DRC's Equateur province. A total of 60 people have been killed and the violence spread to surrounding villages, several of which were burned. About 40 people were badly injured; some are in hospital in the Republic of Congo.

The DRC asylum-seekers – who are mainly Munzayas – are staying in public buildings or with host communities across 11 villages alongside the Oubangui River.

The first clashes between the Enyele and Munzaya happened last March, when more than 200 houses were burned in the village of Munzaya and more than 1,200 residents fled to the ROC. UNHCR is seriously concerned about the intensity of the violence and its spread to nearby villages, which have been virtually emptied of people.

This latest violence, taking place in the north-west of the DRC, the third-largest country in Africa, is unrelated to sporadic fighting in the east, which has displaced 1.7 million people within the country.

Before the current influx, there were already some 9,000 refugees from DRC in northern Republic of Congo who had sought safety from the civil war in their country, which formally ended in 2003. Although large numbers went home to the DRC with the return of peace, these 9,000 wish to settle permanently in the Republic of Congo. UNHCR is working with the government to find ways to make this possible.

• DONATE NOW • • GET INVOLVED • • STAY INFORMED •

 

Related stories by:

UNHCR country pages

Congo's river refugees

More than 100,000 Congolese refugees have crossed the Oubangui River in search of safety in neighbouring Republic of the Congo since inter-ethnic violence erupted in their home areas late last year. They fled from Equateur province in the north-west of Democratic Republic of the Congo after Enyele militiamen launched deadly assaults in October on ethnic Munzayas over fishing and farming rights in the Dongo area. The tensions have spread to other parts of the province.

The majority of the displaced are camping in public buildings and some 100 sites along a 600-kilometre stretch of the Oubangui River, including with host communities. The massive influx is stretching the meagre resources of the impoverished and remote region. Help is urgently needed for both the refugees and the host communities.

The relief operation is logistically complex and expensive because the region can only be reached by plane or boat. However, few boats are available and most are in need of repair. Fuel is expensive and difficult to procure.

Congo's river refugees

UNHCR/Partners Bring Aid to North Kivu

As a massive food distribution gets underway in six UNHCR-run camps for tens of thousands of internally displaced Congolese in North Kivu, the UN refugee agency continues to hand out desperately needed shelter and household items.

A four-truck UNHCR convoy carrying 33 tonnes of various aid items, including plastic sheeting, blankets, kitchen sets and jerry cans crossed Wednesday from Rwanda into Goma, the capital of the conflict-hit province in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The aid, from regional emergency stockpiles in Tanzania, was scheduled for immediate distribution. The supplies arrived in Goma as the World Food Programme (WFP), with assistance from UNHCR, began distributing food to some 135,000 displaced people in the six camps run by the refugee agency near Goma.

More than 250,000 people have been displaced since the fighting resumed in August in North Kivu. Estimates are that there are now more than 1.3 million displaced people in this province alone.

Posted on 6 November 2008

UNHCR/Partners Bring Aid to North Kivu

UNHCR/Partners Bring Aid to North Kivu

Since 2006, renewed conflict and general insecurity in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo's North Kivu province has forced some 400,000 people to flee their homes – the country's worst displacement crisis since the formal end of the civil war in 2003. In total, there are now some 800,000 people displaced in the province, including those uprooted by previous conflicts.

Hope for the future was raised in January 2008 when the DRC government and rival armed factions signed a peace accord. But the situation remains tense in North Kivu and tens of thousands of people still need help. UNHCR has opened sites for internally displaced people (IDPs) and distributed assistance such as blankets, plastic sheets, soap, jerry cans, firewood and other items to the four camps in the region. Relief items have also been delivered to some of the makeshift sites that have sprung up.

UNHCR staff have been engaged in protection monitoring to identify human rights abuses and other problems faced by IDPs and other populations at risk across North Kivu.

UNHCR's ninemillion campaign aims to provide a healthy and safe learning environment for nine million refugee children by 2010.

Posted on 28 May 2008

UNHCR/Partners Bring Aid to North Kivu

South Sudan: My VisitPlay video

South Sudan: My Visit

Tens of thousands of people are fleeing violence again in South Sudan.
Mexico: Fleeing Central American Gang ViolencePlay video

Mexico: Fleeing Central American Gang Violence

Tens of thousands of people make their way to Mexico on mixed migration routes every year. They include victims of gang violence who need protection.
Kyrgyzstan: One Year OnPlay video

Kyrgyzstan: One Year On

A year ago, when violence erupted in Kyrgyzstan, Saliya and her family hid in their basement for three days as fighting raged overhead. Life is slowly returning to normal today.