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Alert

 

DRC

Assistance to displaced people in Walikale, North Kivu province

Geneva, 07 March 2012

1.       Brief description of the emergency

Walikale territory in the Democratic republic of Congo has witnessed continuous population movements linked to regular armed clashes between different armed groups. It has also been an area where heavy fighting between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) has taken place.

Since February 2011, there have been reported armed clashes between FDLR and a local armed group known as Mayi-Mayi Cheka. These clashes started in the Walowa-Uroba and Walowa-Loanda localities of the Walikale territory. During the period of November/December 2011 and January 2012, the clashes spread to the localities of Ntoto, Mutongo, Isangi and Omate causing mass displacement of the local population.

2.       Impact

8077 households have been displaced, 48 houses have been torched, two (2) people have been assassinated and four (4) people have been wounded.

Continuing reciprocal reprisals among belligerent forces active in the region do not encourage uprooted population to return back to their home villages. On the contrary, new waves of people fleeing from their villages have been observed, joining the previously displaced people in the host communities that have no adequate capacity to accommodate them in already overcrowded host families.

Based on the ACT Forum assessment report, two to three displaced families are forced to share a house that is 6 by 4 meters. This, together with lack of adequate latrines and poor sanitation, has caused the hygiene conditions to deteriorate to a critical level, causing diseases (diarrhoea, malaria and intestinal worms) that are threatening human life. Considering the precarious conditions where internally displaced persons (IDP’s) and host communities live, there is a need for an urgent humanitarian response.

3.       National and international response 

Humanitarian organizations have been trying to respond to the crisis with limited resources, including:

• CARITAS – Goma has been working on rehabilitating the road from Walikale to Itebero.
•  Solidarités is working in the axes of Walikale center  Itebero, in WASH sector
• CICR in Kibua and surroundings.
• IMC is providing medical and psycho-social support in Hombo-Chambucha.

• International Medical Committee has provided medical support for local medical facilities.
•  Action Against Hunger (ACF) responded in the sector of food security in the axes of Walikale centre- Mpofi – Kibua.

4.       ACT Alliance response 

ACT DRC forum assessment team carried out an assessment from January 25^thto January 31^st, 2012 with support from Finn Church Aid in DRC.  The forum is preparing an RRF request to the ACT Alliance to respond to the immediate water / sanitation needs of 1250 households in Hombo-Chambucha.  The RRF will be followed by longer term assistance with support from ACT Alliance members in the country.

5.       Planned activities 

Urgent provision of water and sanitation services to prevent an outbreak of water borne-diseases:

• Purification of drinking water fetched  from the streams (pending construction of safe water sources in the longterm)
• Rehabilitation of five (5) safe water sources.
• Awareness raising of both IDPs and host families on hygiene and sanitation basic principles
• Construction of 40 public showers and 80 domestic latrines.

 

Any funding indication or pledge should be communicated to Jean-Daniel Birmele, ACT Chief Finance Officer (jbi@actalliance.org)