HUMANITARIAN GROUPS RESPOND TO NEEDS OF migrants expelled from angola

INto WESTERN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

NEW YORK, 21 April (OCHA) -- In response to the humanitarian needs of thousands of Congolese migrants who have been expelled from Angola into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), United Nations humanitarian agencies and their non-governmental organization (NGO) partners conducted an assessment mission to a town in DRC’s WesternKasaiProvince yesterday.  The mission, led by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), to Tshikapa, some 750 kilometres from Kinshasa, has revealed urgent humanitarian needs for food, health care, clean water and transport.

In response to needs in the affected zones, the DRC’s Ministry of Solidarity and Humanitarian Affairs is opening two humanitarian crisis cells.  The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is bringing in other supplies, including medical and water/sanitation equipment for 35,000 people.  Médecins sans frontières, Belgium (MSF-B), the main NGO on the ground, is providing medical, transport, logistics and storage support.  The OCHA in DRC has organised, led and financed two inter-agency missions to the areas in the past week.  In order to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Kahungula, BandunduProvince, OCHA is tapping into its emergency humanitarian intervention fund to support MSF-Belgium and local partners.

The OCHA continues to receive many reports of physical and psychological abuse of Congolese civilians by Angolans searching for hidden diamonds, including highly intrusive and public body searches on both adults and children.  Instances of rape, torture, murder, arbitrary detention, and systematic theft of personal belongings have also been reported. 

In the past few days, an additional 27,000 Congolese expellees have been registered in Bandundu and WesternKasaiProvinces, in the DRC, bringing the total number of registered expellees to 67,000.  This total does not include the thousands of people who do not pass through registration points.  Aid agencies estimate that between 80,000 and 100,000 Congolese in total are in the process of being expelled into these two provinces.

The Congolese, many of whom have never set foot in the Congo, arrive traumatized from their ordeal and with little, if any, means to support themselves.  Some are reported to be walking more than 100 kilometres to arrive to relative safety, while the pregnant, weak, sick and separated families are often left behind along the remote frontier where food, water and shelter are lacking, and to which access is extremely difficult.  Many of the expellees are living in the streets, or seeking shelter in public buildings.  Others are being taken care of by religious organizations and NGOs, who lack the supplies necessary to meet the needs of the rapidly growing population of expellees.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA New York, tel: (917) 367-5126, mobile: (917) 892-1679; Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA Geneva, tel: 41 22 917 2653, mobile: 41(0) 79 473 4570.

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