OCHA Situation Report
DR Congo
8 November 2004


The situation in Eastern DRC is worrying; the humanitarians are getting
ready

Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

The character of the humanitarian and security situation in the East of
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) calls for an urgent adjustment of
the response given by the humanitarian community in order to relieve the
suffering of the most vulnerable people.

This observation follows a mission that was carried out by the Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). From 24th to the 29th of
October, this delegation has met with the politico-military authorities,
the Heads of United Nations Mission in DRC (MONUC) offices and
representatives of the humanitarian community of the principal towns in
the East. The delegation went to Kindu (province of Maniema), to Bukavu
and Minembwe (Southern Kivu), to Goma, Sake and Beni (Northern Kivu), to
Kalemie (District of Tanganyika), to Bunia and Kisangani (province
Orientale).

The delivery of humanitarian assistance depends on three factors

1) Geographic access that allows the humanitarians to physically reach the
most vulnerable people.

2) Secured access, protecting the humanitarian actors during relief
operations.

3) Global capacity of the humanitarian community to respond to all needs
when the first two conditions are met.

At the end of the mission, it had to be stated that these three factors
are rarely combined.

Inexistent infrastructures

The issue of geographic accessibility is certainly not new in DRC. Road
reconstruction projects do exist here and there, but remain insufficient
to allow basic freedom of movement for the humanitarians to reach the
needy populations

All the Eastern provinces suffer this handicap. The Maniema zone seems
however to be the most cut off. Roads, bridges, train connections,
airports, feeding roads have been destroyed, left abandoned and anything
that is still operational is no longer adapted to its function.

Military provocation and attacks still present

The security situation remains most volatile. From military harassment and
armed attacks to the terror of Congolese and foreign armed groups on
Congolese soil, the civilian populations often have no other choice than
being subjected to this abuse.

The civilian populations and the humanitarians actors are directly
affected by the repercussions of the difficulties linked to the
integration of the army. The lack of a clear framework and the non-payment
of the soldiers lead the latter to live off the civilians whilst
instilling a climate of fear.

Conscious of this state of affairs, the provincial civil and military
authorities have nevertheless announced to the mission their willingness
to put an end to these excesses and at the same time stressed the
difficulty of exerting a control over all the militia.

In the meantime, waiting and hoping for a decisive outcome, the
populations and humanitarians continue being subjected to these abuses,
the former being forced into displacement and instability or in the case
of the latter, to suspend the programs in certain zones even though new
needs are identified.

Apart from generalized harassment all over the East, sporadic outbreaks of
attacks add to or create worrying humanitarian situations as they make any
assistance impossible because of the insecurity. The fights between the
FARDC (DRC Armed Forces) and Mayi-Mayi factions in Walikale and in
Manguredjipa (Northern Kivu) or between armed groups in Ituri, to cite but
a few, incessantly create new needs whilst the humanitarian community
finds it is difficult to respond.

Finally, the resumption of foreign armed group activity in DRC, notably
Rwandan (FDLR, The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda) in the
territory of Rutshuru (Northern Kivu), or Ugandan (NALU/ ADF) in the
"Greater North" of the province of Northern Kivu, compromises humanitarian
intervention for the same reason. According to the interlocutors of the
mission, political and military initiatives are currently being undertaken
to neutralize these elements.

Humanitarian capacity overloaded

Within this unstable context, where new humanitarian needs are added each
day to those already existent, the capacity of the humanitarian response
seems to have reached its limits at two levels:

Firstly, the amount of identified needs entirely absorbs the humanitarian
and financial resources being deployed without being sufficient to cover
all of the requests for assistance in any sector of intervention. The
logical consequence of this is that other, equally important sectors are
not covered due to lack of means or of partners. The deficiencies are
acutely apparent, particularly in the provinces of Maniema and Orientale,
as well as in the district of Tanganyika. They principally affect the
sectors of water and sanitation, health, sexual violence and food
security.

This overload of humanitarian capacity, fed by a climate of continuous
instability, renders an appropriate response to emergencies very difficult
and sometimes even impossible.

Faced with such a situation, action on the key factors of humanitarian
intervention is consequently indispensable in order to maximize the
assistance capacity.

Adaptation of the humanitarian response

The sine qua none condition in all interventions is that of security .The
advocacy campaigns and sensitization of the civil and military authorities
that are aimed at reinforcing the humanitarian identity should continue in
order to gain secured access to the most vulnerable people.

The elaboration of humanitarian plans of action is needed in several zones
in order to optimize available resources and also to incite new
engagements for new areas of greater needs.

Similar plans to that of the province of Southern Kivu developed last
month are needed in several regions, especially in Maniema, and North Kivu
Provinces, as well as in the districts of Ituri and Tanganyika.

The objective, through these plans, is to make a precise inventory of the
humanitarian needs and then to determine priorities in order to respond to
the most urgent. In this manner the use of available resources is
standardised and maximized. The advocacy campaign for the implementation
of these initiatives will also encourage new partners to engage in the
identified objectives and to reduce the operational deficit of the relief
organizations.

The development of field coordination units in isolated zones, as in
Walikale and Lubero, will contribute to develop humanitarian dynamics and
to improve identification of needs in a targeted area. This humanitarian
information will then be relayed by a network of focal points scattered
across the territory.

The standardization of emergency aid will then benefit from being relayed
through development programs so that it will durably transform its impact.

The definition of humanitarian priorities should also be accompanied by a
map of the priority axes to be repaired in the Eastern provinces. Added to
the advantage of being able to easily transport relief aid, such works
contribute to community reconciliation by bringing together a group
composed of people who could have been fighting each other because of the
war, through a labour intensive project. The road, a way of connecting
people, would also be a basis for the recovery of local economy and
another step towards self- sufficiency.

Regarding the response to emergencies, the creation of the Rapid Response
Fund, works towards this need to disburse rapidly, -within 4 days- the
necessary funds for emergency action. This fund, financed by DfID and
Norway will function for an initial period of 6 months.

The availability of funds would be useless without actors to spend it in
the field. However, the humanitarian action in DRC is confronted with a
perpetual difficulty in attracting new partners. This challenge could
however be addressed by three means:

The first would consist in creating a multi-sector rapid response team,
capable of deployment to the location of a humanitarian crisis in a very
short time.

The second would involve the reinforcement of international NGO's by
deploying personnel and means that respond to the specific needs of urgent
crises.

Finally, the strengthening of the humanitarian capacities of local NGO's
could complement the first two proposals. These NGO's present on the
ground would be precious networks to support urgent actions. The recent
events of Uvira have shown this interesting collaboration which would need
to be developed through training and specific guidance. However there
remains the problem of availability, as the local NGO's are already
committed to their regular programs.

Whatever the solution envisaged an important commitment from donors and
the international community will be indispensable for Eastern DRC to erase
its image of a region that rhymes with human suffering.

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