• Text size Normal size text | Increase text size by 10% | Increase text size by 20% | Increase text size by 30%
  • Also available in French

Guterres calls for 'proportionate' international aid to DRC's Equateur province

News Stories, 22 July 2010

© UNHCR/C.Schmitt
High Commissioner António Guterres exchanging views on peace, security and humanitarian assistance with residents of Dongo, Equateur province, northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, July 22 (UNHCR) – High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres has been in Kinshasa today as part of a three-day visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo to draw attention to the plight of Congo's displaced people and the need to ensure humanitarian access to them.

Guterres who travelled to Equateur province in western DRC on Wednesday, said that his agency was getting ready to re-establish a presence in the region to help the internally displaced as well as prepare for the return of refugees.

"The need is to prepare conditions for people to return to their homes," he said. During his visit to Dongo he met former Internally Displaced People (IDPs) who appealed to him for help in rebuilding their lives after violent ethnic clashes in which most houses were burned and infrastructure damaged. UNHCR offices in the area were also destroyed in the fighting, forcing the agency to suspend its operations in the area.

With improved security, UNHCR is planning to open offices in Dongo and Mbandaka. These areas are the places of origin of most of the 115,000 refugees currently in exile in neighbouring Republic of Congo – many of whom say they hope to go back once peace and security are restored in their home areas.

While promising his agency's assistance, Guterres cautioned that humanitarian assistance was merely "a drop in the ocean" compared to the development needs of their region.

"The root causes of the conflict must be addressed, and development programmes that ease economic and social integration must be implemented. The response of the international community has to be proportionate with the dimensions of and the nature of the problems," he added.

Guterres is scheduled to travel to North Kivu province on Friday with the World Food Programme's Executive Director Josette Sheeran.

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, close to 210,000 were displaced from Equateur province – both internally, and across to neighbouring countries. Over a million other people were displaced in eastern DRC.

Insecurity has hampered humanitarian access in several areas. So far this year UNHCR has recorded 116 attacks against humanitarian workers.

Sheeran and Guterres will travel to Kampala at the weekend for the African Union summit opening scheduled for July 25th.

By Celine Schmitt in Kinshasa, and Fati Lejeune-Kaba in Geneva

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

 

Related stories by:

UNHCR country pages

Advocacy

Advocacy is a key element in UNHCR activities to protect people of concern.

The High Commissioner

António Guterres, who joined UNHCR on June 15, 2005, is the UN refugee agency's 10th High Commissioner.

Internally Displaced People

The internally displaced seek safety in other parts of their country, where they need help.

Related Internet Links

UNHCR is not responsible for the content and availability of external internet sites

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

Displaced in North Kivu: A Life on the Run

Fighting rages on in various parts of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with seemingly no end in sight for hundreds of thousands of Congolese forced to flee violence and instability over the past two years. The ebb and flow of conflict has left many people constantly on the move, while many families have been separated. At least 1 million people are displaced in North Kivu, the hardest hit province. After years of conflict, more than 1,000 people still die every day - mostly of hunger and treatable diseases. In some areas, two out of three women have been raped. Abductions persist and children are forcefully recruited to fight. Outbreaks of cholera and other diseases have increased as the situation deteriorates and humanitarian agencies struggle to respond to the needs of the displaced.

When the displacement crisis worsened in North Kivu in 2007, the UN refugee agency sent emergency teams to the area and set up operations in several camps for internally displaced people (IDPs). Assistance efforts have also included registering displaced people and distributing non-food aid. UNHCR carries out protection monitoring to identify human rights abuses and other problems faced by IDPs in North and South Kivu.

Displaced in North Kivu: A Life on the Run

South Sudan: Appeal for Doro CampPlay video

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 WarningPlay video

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 SkillsPlay video

21st Century Skills

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres speaks about the use of computer technology to empower refugees.