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

UNHCR distributes non-food items to 55,000 people in Katanga

News Stories, 14 February 2008

© UNHCR/R.Hollo
The distribution areas in central Katanga can only be reached by boat.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, February 14 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has launched a final distribution of aid for a large group of displaced people who have returned to their homes in the southern province of Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

"This intervention is being carried out as part of UNHCR's programme of assistance and protection for people displaced in northern and central Katanga," said Roger Hollo, a protection officer in the provincial capital, Lubumbashi.

"Some 11,000 households, or 55,000 people, will benefit," he added after the distribution began in central Katanga's Kilumbe district on Tuesday. The exercise will take two or three weeks to complete.

UNHCR is handing out kitchen utensils, blankets, jerry cans, mosquito nets, plastic sheeting, buckets and soap to each returnee family. The refugee agency and a local implementing partner will also distribute string, nails and hammers to help the former internally displaced people (IDPs) construct homes.

The IDPs will also receive food rations from the World Food Programme (WFP) and other non-food items from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). Provincial officials have broadcast information about the distribution and provided security.

"I am very happy and grateful for this gesture. I was lost, I had nothing left," said an old woman, who, like others at Tuesday's distribution, fled her home three years ago to escape fighting between government forces and the Mai-Mai militia.

Tens of thousands of people displaced by the fighting found shelter in makeshift camps at Malemba Nkulu and Mitwaba, located near Lake Mweru and eastern Katanga's border with Zambia. Access to the area and getting aid to the IDPs was difficult. The IDPs began returning home in 2006.

This final distribution of food and non-food items is being conducted in three isolated villages close to the town of Bukama in central Katanga's Kilumbe district. The area, located in Upemba National Park, can only be accessed by boat.

Last November, UNHCR sent a team to the region to assess the needs of the returnees and look at ways to bring in relief items and distribute them. Aid stocks were brought to the area by railway and road and the first distribution was held in January, with almost 8,000 families benefiting.

There are still more than 30,000 IDPs in Katanga and some 1.3 million throughout the DRC.

By Simon Englebert Lubuku in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

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

 

Related stories by:

UNHCR country pages

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

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Kimoka ReturneesPlay video

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Kimoka Returnees

Conflict forced hundreds of thousands of Congolese to flee their homes in North Kivu province in 2007-2008. The villagers of Kimoka are finally returning.
Refugees in Republic of CongoPlay video

Refugees in Republic of Congo

Tens of thousands of people have reportedly fled a wave of ethnic violence in the north-west of the embattled Democratic Republic of the Congo. The civilians have fled from Equateur province, crossing the Ubangi River and seeking shelter in Republic of the Congo.
High Commissioner Guterres visits eastern CongoPlay video

High Commissioner Guterres visits eastern Congo

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres visits some of the estimated 2.1 million displaced people in eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and asks for more international assistance.