High Commissioner Guterres to visit DRC, Uganda, with WFP chief
Briefing Notes, 20 July 2010
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 20 July 2010, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, is visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda this week to draw attention to the plight of Congo's displaced people and the need to ensure humanitarian access to them.
Mr. Guterres will be travelling to Equateur province in western DRC on Wednesday, and North Kivu in the country's east on Friday. He will be joined for part of the trip by WFP's Executive Director Josette Sheeran. They will both be travelling to Kampala at the weekend for the African Union summit opening scheduled for July 25th.
Fighting between militia groups and the Congolese armed forces, as well as violence against civilians, has displaced some 1.85 million people internally and created 450,000 refugees – most hosted in neighbouring countries. Last year alone, saw over a million people displaced in eastern DRC, and close to 210,000 displaced from Equateur province – both internally, and externally as refugees.
Insecurity has blocked humanitarian access in several areas. So far this year UNHCR has recorded 116 attacks against humanitarian workers.
This document examines the situation of IDPs in Acholiland in northern Uganda, through the stories of individuals who have lived through conflict and displacement.
António Guterres, who joined UNHCR on June 15, 2005, is the UN refugee agency's 10th High Commissioner.
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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
Uganda: Sudanese Refugees Flee Rebel Attacks
On August 5, 2002, some 24,000 Sudanese refugees fled their homes in Achol-Pii camp in northern Uganda after a bloody attack by the Lord's Liberation Army rebel group. More than 60 refugees and many local villagers were killed in the attack.
Fearing further violence, displaced refugees trekked overnight to Lira, from where UNHCR trucked them to Kiryondongo, 100 km to the south-west. Kiryondongo site, a settlement already hosting 13,000 refugees, was temporarily extended to accommodate the Achol-Pii survivors until another site could be prepared.
Arriving families were initially accommodated at an expanded reception centre at Kiryondongo. After being registered, the new arrivals received UNHCR plastic sheeting, an emergency food ration and a 20 x 15-metre plot per family to build their own temporary shelter. UNHCR also distributed blankets and jerry cans. Additional latrines were also dug, new water pumps installed and a new emergency clinic was set up.
Uganda: Sudanese Refugees Flee Rebel Attacks
South Sudan: Appeal for Doro Camp
UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres visits refugees in South Sudan and says international assistance is "absolutely crucial.”
ExCom: Guterres Warning
High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres opens the annual meeting of UNHCR's governing committee with a warning that displacement crises are multiplying and becoming more unpredictable.
21st Century Skills
UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres speaks about the use of computer technology to empower refugees.
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