DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO - SKIRMISHES AND SQUABBLES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KINSHASA 001188 SIPDIS AIDAC SIPDIS STATE PASS TO USAID/W USAID/DCHA FOR MHESS, GGOTTLIEB DCHA/OFDA FOR KLUU, ACONVERY, KCHANNELL, MSHIRLEY DCHA/FFP FOR TANDERSON, NCOX, TMCRAE DCHA/OTI FOR RJENKINS, KHUBER AFR FOR BDUNFORD, CTHOMPSON NAIROBI FOR USAID/OFDA/ECARO JMYER, ADWYER NAIROBI FOR USAID/FFP DSUTHER GENEVA FOR NYKYLOH NSC FOR PMARCHAM BRUSSELS FOR USAID PLERNER NEW YORK FOR TMALY USMISSION UN ROME FOR RNEWBERG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PREL PHUM CG SUBJECT: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO - SKIRMISHES AND SQUABBLES SURROUND GOMA AREA SETTLEMENT SITES REFS: A. KINSHASA 01141 B. KINSHASA 01137 C. KINSHASA 1151 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. During the last week of September, small skirmishes involving the Congolese military and various armed groups in North Kivu Province resumed, leading several thousand newly-displaced persons to flee to Goma-area settlement sites. Site visits by USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) staff confirm that response efforts are underway to meet priority needs of internally displaced persons (IDP's),but living conditions and available resources vary among sites, and additional space is needed for the growing IDP population. Squabbles continued within the humanitarian community regarding registration and response activities for IDP's. End summary. -------------- SCATTERED SKIRMISHES -------------- ¶2. While the government recently issued an ultimatum for troops loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda to join the military integration ("brassage") process by October 15 or face military action, UN agencies noted renewed small clashes between Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR),Mai-Mai, Nkunda, and government troops in various locations in Masisi and Rutshuru territories in southern North Kivu throughout the last week of September (ref C). ¶3. In Masisi, skirmishes reportedly took place in Mweso, Kichanga, Nyabiondo, Karuba, Shasha, Rubaya, Ngungu, and Kalengele towns. In Rutshuru, Mai-Mai troops reportedly gained control of Kibirizi, FDLR and Mai-Mai elements clashed between Kiseguru and Kirumba, and Nkunda forces temporarily blocked the road between Rutshuru and Bunagana. While the unpredictable security environment limited humanitarian assessments to determine the impact on local populations, an estimated 5,000 new IDP's arrived in Goma-area settlements in late September, and relief agencies report a slow but steady rate of continued arrivals. ¶4. The presence and periodic confrontations of these groups has numerous negative consequences for nearby resident and displaced populations. In addition to disrupting livelihoods and uprooting communities, humanitarian staff have received reports of troops looting towns, forcibly recruiting new soldiers, committing acts of sexual violence, harassing IDP's at water points, and stealing UN World Food Program emergency food rations. ¶5. According to the International Rescue Committee (IRC),residents in Kabaya, Karambi, and Mutabo in southeastern Rutshuru have reported increasingly degrading and frequent sexual assaults by armed men over the past four months. IRC stated that all groups were implicated in the attacks, although FDLR and FARDC were specifically mentioned in the area surrounding Karambi and Mutabo. Several relief agencies have received reports of forced recruitment of adult and child soldiers by Nkunda forces in multiple locations in Masisi and Rutshuru. In addition, relief organizations are concerned that distributions to the estimated 4,800 IDP families settled next to a military base in Kabaya could incite looting by the government soldiers. -------------- SERVICES AT SETTLEMENT SITES -------------- ¶6. Humanitarian agencies continue to provide and expand relief activities for IDP's in the five settlement sites west of Goma. KINSHASA 00001188 002 OF 003 Although space and some services vary by site, health care is available to all IDP's through an OFDA-funded program, water and sanitation activities are in place at four of the sites, and relief agencies are beginning to provide potable water and soap at the fifth site. The following summary of humanitarian conditions, response efforts, and gaps at each site is based on a September 26 inter-agency assessment and a September 29 OFDA staff site visit. ¶7. The estimated 10,400 IDP's at Bulengo, the largest and first official site in the area, have convenient access to a broad range of relief programs. Two water bladders provide safe drinking water; latrines are posted throughout the site; and OFDA partner International Medical Corps (IMC) has set up a temporary health center with free 24-hour primary and maternal care. Referrals are available from Bulengo and all Goma-area IMC health centers for suspected cholera cases or more critical health conditions. Widely-spaced huts at Bulengo are covered with plastic sheeting, distributed by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in mid-September along with additional emergency relief supplies and government-provided lentils and vegetable oil. In addition, counseling services are available for victims of sexual and gender-based violence, and the UN Children's Fund is preparing alternate education programs for displaced children. ¶8. IDP's at Mugunga One, Mugunga Two, and Lac Vert were also eligible to receive plastic sheeting and emergency relief supplies from the Bulengo distribution, and clean water, IMC health services, and latrines are available at or near each site. While the quantity of drinking water differs among the sites, additional water is available from nearby Lake Kivu, and teams are permanently stationed at several points along the lake to provide chlorine tablets, since cholera is endemic to Lake Kivu. Based on OFDA and NGO discussions with IDP's at the various sites, the population appears well-versed in the importance of using the chlorine tablets for water taken from the lake. ¶9. Current response priorities include identifying additional sites for existing and newly-arriving IDP's, water and sanitation interventions at Ndosho, and the provision of relief supplies to IDP's who arrived after the mid-September Bulengo distribution. ¶10. Relief staff and local authorities agree that moving IDP's from Lac Vert and Ndosho to a newly approved sixth site at Buhimba is a top priority. The transfer will provide a safer environment for IDP's currently at the roadside Lac Vert site, will enable classes to resume in the school currently housing IDP's, and permit relief agencies to provide more substantial assistance at Ndosho. However, Buhimba has capacity for only an estimated 1,500 households, which is insufficient for the estimated 2,300 households currently at Lac Vert and Ndosho and an additional 1,000 newly-arrived households at Nzulo. Furthermore, tightly-packed huts at both Mugunga One and Mugunga Two present a fire hazard from open cooking fires, and local officials have already indicated that the Mugunga Two site can not be expanded. ¶11. Of the five Goma-area sites, emergency response activities have been most limited at Ndosho, where an estimated 400 households have not received emergency relief supplies since arriving from Munigi after the Bulengo distribution (ref A). Until September 29, relief agencies had not established water or sanitation facilities at the site owing to disagreements over whether to provide services to this group at their current location or waiting to register and move them to a new official settlement area. Despite dissenting opinions at humanitarian coordination meetings, Mercy Corps has since begun working to provide potable water and soap to the Ndosho IDP's. OFDA staff note that tension and differing approaches between relief agencies in Goma likely contributed to delays in response efforts to the Ndosho IDP's. KINSHASA 00001188 003 OF 003 -------------- STAFF SQUABBLES -------------- ¶12. Infighting within the humanitarian community in Goma has resumed in recent days. Disagreements over current estimates of the IDP population near Goma, appropriate registration and response methods for the Ndosho and recent IDP's, and assistance to local security forces aggravate existing tensions (ref B). ¶13. Current estimates of the number of IDP's at Ndosho, Lac Vert, Mugunga One, and Mugunga Two are greatly contested, fueling debates over how much assistance is required. For example, some relief agencies estimate the number of households at Ndosho is around 400 based on day and night-time visual accounts. However, a list provided by IDP's at the site, cited by other organizations, claims 2,477 families at Ndosho. Furthermore, there is currently no system in place to track any returning or newly arriving IDP's. ¶14. Several agencies have repeatedly called for distributions of relief supplies to new arrivals and Ndosho-based IDP's, as well as food aid for vulnerable households in each Goma-area site. IMC is providing emergency food rations for 600 families with malnourished children. However, WFP and UNICEF are unwilling to conduct general distributions based on registration lists that are widely acknowledged to be faulty, and UNHCR is insistent that any additional food or non-food distributions must be carried out equally at all sites. This standoff contributed to the two-week delay in providing drinking water at Ndosho, and has prevented new arrivals from receiving relief commodities until a follow-up registration is conducted. ¶15. As of October 1, a team comprised of UNHCR, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC),and Save the Children/UK is preparing to register both existing and newly-arriving IDP populations near Goma. Following the registration, which is expected to take two to three weeks, IDP's from Ndosho and Lac Vert are slated to be moved to a new settlement site at Buhimba, pending final authorization from local officials. Humanitarian and government agencies have both determined Buhimba to be a viable site. ¶16. Another recurring source of tension are differing approaches to providing assistance to local police forces. At the Inter-Agency Standing Committee meeting for North Kivu on October 1, UNHCR announced a decision taken jointly with MONUC and NRC to provide food assistance to local police forces as an "incentive", and to prevent looting of IDP food stocks. However, the NRC representative at the meeting was not aware of the decision, and OCHA along with several NGOs stated that the group's policy on providing support to local security forces had not changed since an earlier UNHCR proposal to pay police for protection services. The issue is slated to be reviewed at the next committee meeting on October 8. BROCK