Congo-Kinshasa: Humanitarians Pick Up the Pieces

Tag : bearing parts

Clashes involving the plethora of armed groups in the region andregular army have continued, despite the January signing of aceasefire by most of them.
For instance, most of the IDPs in the four camps nearest Goma, themain town in North Kivu, have fled their homes since the start of2008.
"I arrived in March from Sake ," JeanineMaombi, 22, mother of two, told IRIN at the Bulengo camp, home toat least 16,000 IDPs. "A lot of us at this camp arrived thisyear but I know some who have been here for years."
Fitina Kabumba and Saverina Tumaini are among another batch of IDPswho arrived at Bulengo in September 2007. The nearby IDP camps ofMugunga 1, Mugunga 2 and Buhimba hold thousands of IDPs, each witha story of displacement similar to that of Maombi, Kabumba andTumaini. The camps are less than 10km south of Goma.
"We fled when fighting intensified in Masisi eight months agoand I am now forced to cramp my family of five children, two ofthen aged 18 and 15, into a tiny tent in this camp," Tumainisaid.
Targeting host communities
The story is the same in many camps around North Kivu but, with atleast 70 percent of the IDPs having sought refuge with "hostfamilies", relief agencies have adopted aid deliverystrategies, targeting communities rather than the IDPs alone. Hostcommunities now benefit from services such as health, water andeducation that previously targeted the displaced.
"Host families also face the same security concerns that theIDPs experience because as a result of the insecurity, they haveless access to their fields, so we assist not only the IDPs butalso the host families who have shown such generosity,"Lavand'Homme said. "We are now providing more community-basedassistance in the fields of health services, water provision andeducation activities."
An aid worker, who requested anonymity, said the province wasover-militarised, with up to 50,000 people bearing arms, most ofthem in the southern part.
The Congolese army has an estimated 20,000 soldiers in theprovince, while the armed groups, including the Forcesdémocratiques pour la libération du Rwanda (FDLR),Mayi-Mayi militiamen and troops loyal to renegade army commanderLaurent Nkunda, account for the rest. The FDLR comprises groups ofarmed Hutu groups, many of them remnants of militias largely blamedfor the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The FDLR has been active ineastern DRC for more than a decade.
"Even in places where fighting has not gone on for a while, wefind that the displaced have yet to return to their homes becausethey don't feel safe enough or fear more harassment from securityforces," the aid worker said.
The situation is made even more precarious for civilians becausethe Congolese army, as well as the armed groups, often turn to thepopulation for food and money.
Improved capacity
Despite the poor state of security in parts of the province,Lavand'Homme told IRIN that better management of IDP camps andmonitoring of civilian protection had led to improved aid delivery.
"Since adopting the CCCM [camp coordination and campmanagement] system [in 2007] and a rapid response mechanism duringemergencies, the humanitarian community has seen a great deal ofimprovement in aid delivery," he said. "This way, weensure that food and non-food items are distributed even hoursafter an emergency; and that this assistance continues on anemergency basis for at least three months."