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Displaced Congolese flee fresh fighting near Goma

News Stories, 13 November 2007

© UNHCR/L.Hounkponou
Displaced people with their belongings after fleeing renewed clashes west of the town of Goma.

GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, November 13 (UNHCR) – Tens of thousands of previously uprooted Congolese were on the run again Tuesday following the latest confrontation between government forces and suspected renegade troops in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The displaced were from major camps near the town of Goma in DRC's volatile North Kivu province, according to a UNHCR press release, which cited staff of the refugee agency as saying that panic spread among the displaced even though the camps were apparently not directly targeted.

"There is an attack and we have to leave," a frightened internally displaced Congolese was quoted as telling a UNHCR field safety adviser in the area.

At least 28,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) out of some 38,000 sheltered at Mugunga I, Mugunga II and Lac Vert have left the three sites following Tuesday's dawn skirmishes in surrounding hills. Sporadic gunfire and mortar rounds could still be heard in the area Tuesday morning. In addition, about 2,000 people have fled from Bulengo, which hosts some 10,000 IDPs.

The UNHCR press release said the situation was dramatic and critical as tens of thousands of IDPs from the camps, mixed with local people who are also fleeing the fighting, jam roads leading to Goma under torrential rains. Some of them were arriving at Buhimba, an IDP site near Goma set up early October.

"The main road toward Sake was crowded with people; we had difficulties getting through," UNHCR field safety adviser, Pierre Nazroo, was quoted as saying. "Internally displaced people are moving from site to site – direction Goma."

According to initial reports, the IDPs have taken their belongings and some of the aid they received at the camps with them. Some of the sites were reportedly pillaged after the IDPs left. Few of the plastic sheets distributed by UNHCR last week could still be seen covering makeshift huts in the camps.

"UNHCR teams, together with other UN agencies, are presently trying to assess the new situation and immediate needs, including shelter, food and protection," said the press release.

Continued fighting in North Kivu province between government forces, renegade troops and rebels since December 2006 has led to the worst internal displacement in the area since the end of the civil war in 2004. Some 375,000 Congolese have been forced to leave their homes in the province, including more than 160,000 in the last two months alone.

UNHCR called on "all parties to refrain from attacks on internally displaced people and civilians, and to find a negotiated solution for the prolonged violence that continues to plague North Kivu and its population."

"With sharpening inter-ethnic divides and a continuous build-up of military forces, UNHCR remains deeply concerned about the risks of severe human rights abuses and violence against civilians," the refugee agency added.

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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

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.

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