Complex Emergency in the Kasai region, DR Congo Situation Report No. 2 (12 April 2017)

Highlights

• More than one million people are currently displaced in the Kasai region, of which 60 per cent come from Central Kasai. This figure has more than doubled compared to the first situation report, due to methodological improvements and new data.

• The assistance continues with 40 humanitarian actors in the field, providing multisector assistance for at least two months, to some 352,000 people in the provinces of Kasai, Central Kasai and Eastern Kasai.

• Due to security and physical constraints, humanitarian access is a challenge that needs to be considered in the humanitarian response strategy under development. There is also a need to improve the monitoring and warning system in place to monitor humanitarian displacement and needs.

• The humanitarian situation could soon worsen due to the gradual shift in the crisis, marked by the fragmentation of militias, the intensification of violence against civilians, and the growing importance of inter-community conflict dynamics (in a native vs non-native logic). The risk of inter-community clashes is particularly high in Luiza (Central Kasai) and Mweka (Kasai).

2,44 M affected persons (minimum estimated figures)

1,03 M Internally Displaced People 97 084 Returnees in Eastern Kasaï

130,000 Members of communities/ families hosting IDPs

352,000 People covered by the ongoing emergency assistance

4,562 Congolese expelled from Angola (Figures for Jan. 2017)

Overview of the situation

As of 11 April 2017, more than one million people are displaced due to the complex crisis in the Kasai region (see table below for the breakdown by provinces). This figure has more than doubled compared to the data reported in the Situation Report No. 1. This is the result of the incorporation of newly collected data and of a reviewed and improved counting methodology based on alerts. In the same way, the number of people affected by this crisis increased from 1.74 million people to 2.44 million.
New internal displacement of people fleeing violence in various areas are reported daily as humanitarian alerts across the five provinces (Kasai, Central Kasai, Kasai Oriental, Lomani and Sankuru). On 6 April 2017, for example, a displacement of more than 57 000 persons was reported in the territories of Mweka and Luebo (Kasai province). Similarly, on 8 April, there were reports of a movement of 200 persons in the Luilu area (Eastern Kasai). As a reminder, these internal displacements are caused, on one hand, by protection risks generated by the presence of the FARDC and militia men attacks in the villages, and on the other hand by the clashes between these parties. Dynamics of multiple and pendular displacements are observed, depending on the areas where conflicts between militias and armed groups erupt. In some towns, such as Luebo (Kasai), the population chose to stay at home and submit to the authority of militias, whereas local authorities have fled the area.