OCHA Situation Report
DR Congo
Report for October 2006
30 October 2006


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

There are several root causes of the current humanitarian problems:

- The continued activity of armed groups (Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu,
Katanga)

- Joint MONUC/FARDC military operations as well the national army's own
campaigns (Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Katanga)

- Interethnic conflict (Ituri, Rutshuru, South Kivu high plateau)

- Theft and banditry: fighting over control of mining areas, or areas
with high tax revenue or large volume of trade

- Bad governance: lack of planning and coordination in terms of security
management, the justice system and resources (military operations, DDR,
impunity)

- Epidemics

- Human rights violations (sexual violence and other exactions)

- Natural disasters: flooding, erosion, storms (Kivus and Kinshasa)

The most affected groups are:

- Internally displaced persons, currently estimated at 1.1 million based
on evaluations in the eastern provinces. From October 2005 to September
2006, the number of displaced dropped by more than 500 000, or 30%.
Meanwhile, the beginning of 2006 saw a significant increase in
population movement in the east of the country, due to MONUC-backed
FARDC military operations against militias, interethnic conflict and the
combined exactions of armed groups and government forces. The Rapid
Response Mechanism (RRM) has assisted an average of 86 125 persons per
month since January 2006, representing an increase of 140% over the 2005
average. Certain displaced persons, of which the total number is not
known, were completely overlooked: forced to move constantly between
their homes, fields and hiding places (during the day or the night
depending on circumstances), they live in constant fear of attack.

- Some 490 000 returnees left the areas to which they were displaced and
came back to their villages of origin in Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu
and Katanga between April and September 2006, following the surrender of
several warlords, hunted down in joint MONUC/FARDC operations. The
returnees found themselves once again exposed to insecurity linked to a
lack of adequate infrastructure and means of agricultural production in
their areas of return. They are also forced to endure the presence of
armed groups (militias and FARDC) which limit their movement and prevent
a return to a normal life.

- Since the beginning of 2006, UNHCR has repatriated 26 000 Congolese in
Equateur, South Kivu, Katanga and Province Orientale. These persons were
coming from Central African Republic, Tanzania, and Sudan. This figure
does not reflect the total reality of returns, as many refugees decided
to repatriate themselves, without the assistance of UNHCR.

- Local populations were also affected ? in particular women and
children ? since 90% of displaced persons live with host families,
forced to share everything despite their already vulnerable position.
Acute malnutrition is a phenomenon becoming more and more common in the
eastern provinces, as in Katanga where it affects 8.2% of the
population. In addition, the dysfunction of basic social services places
a major burden on local populations.

- Military families have benefited from the assistance of the
humanitarian community each time they have been struck by crisis. Their
status, however, remains the subject of much discussion.

Vulnerability is evident in all humanitarian sectors:

Nutrition and Food Security: death of 4 children in 10 000 each day due
to malnutrition, 71% of families suffer from malnutrition, threat of
famine in Katanga and South Kivu where roughly ten people have died from
hypoglycaemia, increase of severe malnutrition in all eastern provinces,
insufficient WFP food stocks to cover the needs of both the displaced
and returnees.

Causes: the interruption of agricultural work due to insecurity and
repeated displacement, theft of crops by armed groups, limitation of
access to fields by FARDC, lack of seeds and farming tools for the
recommencement of agricultural work, isolation of certain regions, lack
of access to populations in need due to insecurity, exorbitant logistic
costs of humanitarian assistance, insufficient family income.

Health: 50 persons die each hour, infant mortality rate 34 times higher
than in developed countries, 45% of disease caused by recurring endemic
disease (malaria, increase of cholera in South Kivu and Katanga,
measles, menegitis, plague epidemic in Province Orientale with 626 cases
by the end of September 2006 and 42 deaths), lack of medicine.

Causes: ruined infrastructure, lack of nearby health centres, high cost
of intervention, difficulties of access due to insecurity, pillage of
stocks of drugs by armed groups.

Water and Sanitation: Only 22% of the population with access to drinking
water, recurring endemic waterborne disease.

Causes: lack of provision of drinkable water, lack of protected water
sources and latrines, overpopulation of homes, limited number of
humanitarian actors in this sector.

Shelter and Non-Food Items: lack of lodging and basic commodities for
the displaced and returnees.

Causes: insufficient information on humanitarian needs due to insecurity
and thus a lack of access, destruction and burning of homes by armed
groups or populations during interethnic conflict, continued process of
return despite a lack of housing, occupation of homes by armed groups.

Education: only 45% of children, mostly boys, have access to education
in rural areas.

Causes: 50% of educational infrastructure destroyed, difficult access
due to insecurity, classrooms used for shelter by IDPs and military,
absence of teachers, high costs of schooling.

Protection: victims of sexual violence (women and men between the ages
of 1 and 80), physical violence against populations, pillage of fields
and homes, burning of houses, destruction of social infrastructure,
imposition of forced labour and taxes, hostage taking.

Causes: lack of sufficient training and discipline of government forces,
absence of state authority, interethnic conflict, continuing armed
conflict.

Logistics: difficulties of physical access to beneficiaries seriously
limits humanitarian action, since they permit neither the identification
nor the evaluation of needs and make intervention impossible or
prohibitively costly.

Causes: lack of upkeep of roads and river ways, abandonment of certain
zones by their inhabitants and administrative authorities.

Coordination: the needs of persons affected by crisis remain
considerable, despite the successful implementation of a number of
coordination mechanisms: the Humanitarian Plan of Action with $310
million financing (44.47% of the total budget), the Pooled Fund with
$88.2 million, the CERF (Central Emergency Response Fund) with $38
million, the RRM (Rapid Response Mechanism) and its 170 interventions
since the start of the year, the installation of a humanitarian house
and 4 satellite offices, as well as the near total establishment of
cluster system (10 groups of sectors).

Causes: limitation of financing, high cost of humanitarian intervention,
neglected crises.

Bureau de Coordination des Affaires Humanitaire OCHA RDC
Section Information Publique
Tel. : + 243 819889191

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