Situation report: DRC response continues
SITUATION REPORT | UPDATED: December 9, 2008
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PHOTO: Tarik Tinazay/DKH-ACT International.
Internally displaced persons wait for humanitarian aid in downtown Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.
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PHOTO: Tarik Tinazay/DKH-ACT International.
Kato (back) and his brother Ahadi, 3-years, at an orphanage in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.
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As the response continues in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, ACT members have provided the following updates:
Security situation
The situation in North Kivu is relatively calm
at the moment. However, clashes between armed groups are being reported
daily in both Masisi and Rutshuru territories. Humanitarian
organisations had to evacuate their staff from Masisi temporarily on 29
November in fear of the spreading of clashes, but have since returned
to Masisi to resume their activities. Access to some of the affected
areas remains difficult at times due to bad road conditions (especially
in Masisi) and occasional harassment of NGO vehicles by armed groups
along the road (particularly in the Goma-Rutshuru axis).
The town of Goma is rather calm, but the official curfew from 11pm to 5am is still enforced. The
incidence of looting by all armed groups is increasing in all areas of
the province from Goma up to the surroundings of Butembo. Children and
youth are reportedly still being forcibly recruited by several armed
groups.
Road blocks and arbitrary taxes are being imposed on
commercial vehicles and private individuals passing through rebel-held
zones (not NGOs). These taxes, coupled with the general insecurity
that blocks supply roads and prevents people from harvesting their
crops, have contributed to the exponential rise in food prices and some
basic commodities in Goma. Food prices in Goma town are reported to
have risen by 144 percent between January and November. Also the price
of charcoal has more than tripled.
Political progress in settling the crisis
Congolese
and Rwandan governments held discussions last week on the FDLR
disarmament process, and agreed last Friday on joint operations against
the FDLR. Rwanda has agreed to help the Congolese army in intelligence
and planning of such operations. After Olusegun Obasanjo’s mediation
efforts between the government in Kinshasa and the CNDP, negotiations
between CNDP and the government began on 8 December in Nairobi. Neither
Nkunda nor Kabila are present in the talks. Skepticism prevails as to
whether these negotiations are likely to bring about any concrete
results.
Humanitarian situation
The slightly improved
security situation in the past weeks has allowed for humanitarian aid
operations to provide assistance to the displaced people who have
settled in camps or other sites within host communities. However, great
numbers of people still remain on the move. The armed confrontations in
Masisi have displaced approximately 25,000 people in the past week.
Some movement of return can be observed in several localities in the
Rutshuru territory and also on the Minova axis. This return is not
necessarily inspired by confidence that the places of origin are
secure, but rather by the fact that the harvesting period is beginning.
If the population, whose survival depends on agriculture, does not
return to harvest they will lose the production for which they have
been working for the past agricultural season.
Sanitation
remains a concern both in internally displaced persons (IDPs) sites and
within host communities particularly in Goma. Eleven schools within
Goma town are still occupied at night time by IDPs without other
shelter.
In areas of return, health and nutrition issues
urgently need to be addressed. Health centres have been looted in many
localities, and the rate of malnourished children among both displaced
and returnee communities seem to be higher than normal (nutritional
surveys are ongoing but there are no official results yet.)
The
education cluster is concerned about the disruption of educational
activities in the affected areas. This is not among the
life-threatening concerns, but means that yet another school year is
lost for tens of thousands of school-aged children.
The number of Congolese refugees that have fled fighting to Uganda is now estimated at 30,000 people.
ACT response
The
ACT members have continued their previously ongoing projects, that are
not necessarily responding directly to the latest crisis, but are
addressing the needs of vulnerable populations in areas less affected
by the most recent waves of fighting. However, national ACT members
have made preliminary arrangements in terms of the forming and training
of teams in order to ensure rapid mobilisation when the funds for the
ACT appeal activities become available. Ongoing ACT member projects in
North Kivu include mainly hygiene education, responding to gender-based
violence, nutrition and food security activities.
Non-food items kits were distributed last week by ACT members to 175 vulnerable IDP households within Goma town.
A
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) team and equipment from Norwegian
Church Aid (NCA) has arrived in Goma. NCA and its partners are in the
process of redefining the areas of intervention based on the updated
situation analysis and needs assessment. The NCA WASH project is
already ongoing in Nzulo town and the Majengo district of Goma town.
LWF
teams have returned to Kayna and Kirumba, and are resuming previously
operational food security and nutrition activities in the area,
including re-equipping the Kayna Therapeutic Nutrition Centre that was
looted and destroyed by soldiers in November. LWF has also started
preparations for the intensified nutrition and food security activities
proposed in the ACT preliminary appeal for 4,800 malnourished children
and their families in the south Lubero area.
The ACT
Coordinating Office has been in discussion with The Sphere Project and
HAP International to improve minimum standards and accountability on
the ground through the deployment of county-level support.
Additionally, a security consultant, funded by DanChurchAid, has
completed a security assessment and recommendations for the ACT members
working in eastern DRC.
The preliminary appeal for US
$1,888,215 is currently 69 percent covered with pledges and
contributions. Initial funding has been disbursed to the ACT members in
eastern DRC and activities are beginning. A full appeal will be
released in the coming days.
ACT is also supporting refugees in
Uganda displaced by the violence in eastern DRC. The Church of Uganda
received US $56,333 from the ACT Rapid Response Fund and is
distributing food and non-food items to support 6,000 people.
