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Some 30,000 Congolese flee to IDP settlement in North Kivu

News Stories, 28 October 2008

© UNHCR/M.Yonekawa
On the Road: A group of IDPs flee to escape fighting between the Congolese army and rebel troops in North Kivu province.

GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, October 28 (UNHCR) – An estimated 30,000 people displaced by fresh fighting between government forces and rebel troops have begun arriving in sites near Goma, the capital of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo's North Kivu province.

A team from the UN refugee agency visited the two settlements for internally displaced people (IDPs) at Kibati, 10 kilometres north of Goma, on Tuesday morning. They reported that the condition of the estimated 30,000 new arrivals from areas north of Kibati was "difficult."

They include 20,000 previously displaced people from Kibumba camp, 30 kms north of Goma. The new arrivals joined a population of some 15,000 IDPs who had moved to Kibati earlier. The UNHCR team will assess needs and try to prepare an adequate humanitarian response.

"Many more could be on the way from areas further north that have been affected by the fighting in recent days," a UNHCR spokesman said. Fighting was also reported close to Rutshuru, 100 kms north of Goma and the location of a UNHCR office.

"It's a very serious situation," said UNHCR Chief Spokesman Ron Redmond. "We want to make sure that everything is prepared in these camps close to Goma to receive these people. I'm sure there are going to be a lot of medical situations, there are going to be severely traumatized people, they are going to need food and clean water and other support immediately. So that's why our team is out there today despite the security concerns."

The security situation in Kibati and in Goma was said to be calm but tense.

UNHCR staff in Goma, where the agency has an important office, reported that there were few people on the streets while shops, banks and schools were closed for the day. On Monday, frightened local residents had staged demonstrations which reportedly left some people dead.

Fighting in North Kivu intensified at the end of 2006. By January 2008, it had brought the total number of IDPs in the region to more than 800,000. There are 16 UNHCR-assisted sites in North Kivu sheltering some 100,000 people. Tens of thousands of civilians have found shelter in more than 40 makeshift sites across the province.

Aid agencies estimate the total number of IDPs in the province as close to 1 million. "The numbers of internally displaced are already huge and it looks like it is going to grow," said UNHCR's Redmond.

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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

The crisis in North Kivu continues

Insecurity in Democratic Republic of the Congo's North Kivu province continues, with more than 500,000 people internally displaced, many for the second or third time. Armed combat, persecution of civilians, killings, abductions, sexual abuse and forced recruitment of children still lead to displacement. Reports of rapes and murders number in the thousands. Some 176,000 of the displaced live in Masisi District, including 49,000 hosted in 19 camps. Conditions are harsh, with entire families living in one-room ramshackle huts with no water or services. UNHCR is very concerned about the security situation, living conditions and the future of the displaced. Even though some 36,000 people living in camps in North Kivu managed to return home in 2010, approximately 72,000 remain.

UNHCR is coordinating 31 camps for internally displaced people (IDP) in the whole of North Kivu, providing emergency assistance. UNHCR is facing enormous challenges in terms of access to the areas where the IDPs are hosted and continues to plead for humanitarian access to assist the people in need.

The crisis in North Kivu continues

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

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