Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
DRC: Thousands of displaced out of reach
GOMA, 24 September 2012 (IRIN) - Weather conditions and continued insecurity are hampering aid agencies? efforts to reach hundreds of thousands of people displaced by armed conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The onset of the rainy season has made many roads impassable, cutting off large populations from assistance. UN World Food Programme (WFP) officer Laura Parker told IRIN that a convoy of trucks that WFP sent to Walikale territory in North Kivu province in early September took 11 days to cover 250km.
WFP has faced a series of setbacks in its attempts to help the internally displaced people (IDPs) in Walikale.
?We got the alert in February that there were 86,000 newly displaced in the territory needing assistance,? said Parker. ?We had already started to mobilize our trucks at that time, but due to security and weather conditions we were not able to get trucks out there till July, and the recent rains are a severe hindrance.?
The agency is now considering other transportation options for Walikale. Parker said air transport might be a possibility, though it would be expensive. The convoy of trucks will be driven to Kisangani, about 600km further west, and might be used to supply Walikale from there.
Many without help
UN agencies are also concerned about 129,000 newly identified displaced people who have fled massacres in Masisi territory in the past few months. WFP is planning operations to assist this group in the very near future, said Parker. Most are at ?spontaneous sites? in Masisi, rather than at officially recognized camps. Some of these sites can be reached by lorry from the provincial capital, Goma.
Displaced people visited by IRIN in Rubaya, about 50km from Goma, on September 15 said they have had had no outside help since arriving there on July 23. Many in the crowd looked undernourished and in poor health. ?We live like birds,? said Charles Matito, a spokesman for the IDPs. ?It?s people here in Rubaya who give us something, a few potatoes now and then.?
More...
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96378/DRC-Thousands-of-displaced-out-of-reach
GOMA, 24 September 2012 (IRIN) - Weather conditions and continued insecurity are hampering aid agencies? efforts to reach hundreds of thousands of people displaced by armed conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The onset of the rainy season has made many roads impassable, cutting off large populations from assistance. UN World Food Programme (WFP) officer Laura Parker told IRIN that a convoy of trucks that WFP sent to Walikale territory in North Kivu province in early September took 11 days to cover 250km.
WFP has faced a series of setbacks in its attempts to help the internally displaced people (IDPs) in Walikale.
?We got the alert in February that there were 86,000 newly displaced in the territory needing assistance,? said Parker. ?We had already started to mobilize our trucks at that time, but due to security and weather conditions we were not able to get trucks out there till July, and the recent rains are a severe hindrance.?
The agency is now considering other transportation options for Walikale. Parker said air transport might be a possibility, though it would be expensive. The convoy of trucks will be driven to Kisangani, about 600km further west, and might be used to supply Walikale from there.
Many without help
UN agencies are also concerned about 129,000 newly identified displaced people who have fled massacres in Masisi territory in the past few months. WFP is planning operations to assist this group in the very near future, said Parker. Most are at ?spontaneous sites? in Masisi, rather than at officially recognized camps. Some of these sites can be reached by lorry from the provincial capital, Goma.
Displaced people visited by IRIN in Rubaya, about 50km from Goma, on September 15 said they have had had no outside help since arriving there on July 23. Many in the crowd looked undernourished and in poor health. ?We live like birds,? said Charles Matito, a spokesman for the IDPs. ?It?s people here in Rubaya who give us something, a few potatoes now and then.?
More...
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96378/DRC-Thousands-of-displaced-out-of-reach