Jerry cans and soap will help to minimize spread of water-borne diseases, a very real threat in a camp where the population increased from 15,000 to some 65,000 in the space of a few days. © UNHCR / P. Taggart

15.01.2009

Lions Sweden donates half a million to help the Democratic Republic Congo

UNHCR has received a donation of SEK 500,000 from Lions Sweden towards its protection and assistance programs for the internally displaced in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC). This sum covers the cost of 50,000 hygiene kits for girls and women. The hygiene kits will be distributed among displaced in the North Kivu and Oriental provinces.

Hans ten Feld, Regional Representative for the Baltic and Nordic Countries, is grateful for the timely and generous donation:

-  The situation in Eastern DRC is nothing short of a humanitarian disaster. UNHCR is on the ground helping the displaced with shelter, water and other assistance and we are negotiating for the safe passage of civilians out of combat zones. The contribution from Lions will alleviate the desperate situation for many children and hard-tried families in Eastern Congo.

The latest round of fighting resumed in the eastern parts of the DRC in August 2008, when government troops clashed with rebel forces, led by Laurent Nkunda, in the North Kivu region. By December last year some 250,000 civilians had fled, many of them already displaced. Some 27,000 Congolese have fled to neighbouring Uganda in the same period. Many of these people were already displaced and were forced to flee again.

There are some 11 UNHCR-assisted camps in eastern DRC. New camps have been set up to replace destroyed ones, and in some areas the most vulnerable have been moved between sites to ensure their safety. In addition to this, there are many makeshift camps.

The displaced population is in dire need of food, shelter, medicines, clothes and other aid items. The area, which by itself poses immense logistical challenges due to the lack of roads or their poor condition, remains highly volatile. Safe humanitarian access remains a key challenge for UNHCR and other agencies, and work continues with local authorities and other agencies on finding ways of delivering assistance in these insecure and inaccessible areas.

The estimated total number of internally displaced (IDP’s) in the conflict-ridden E astern DRC varies, but over one million persons have fled their homes over the last few years .