A new group of 11,000 people were uprooted during the recent attacks by the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) around the village of Banda in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during mid-March 2009, bringing to more than 188,000 the total number of persons displaced as a result of repeated raids by the militia in the district of Upper-Uélé, Oriental Province, over the past six months, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Since September 2008, more than 990 Congolese were killed by the LRA and 747 others were kidnapped, the vast majority of them are children, explains the UNHCR.
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a Ugandan militia led by Joseph Koni who faces for over 20 years, the national army (UPDF) in northern Uganda. At the height of the crisis, more than two million people have been displaced in northern Uganda, due to the atrocities of the LRA. Between two offensives in their country, the militiamen retreat to their bases in southern Sudan and northern DRC, in the Garamba National Park ( see map of Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)
At the end of 2008, UPDF has reached an agreement with the Central Government in Kinshasa, which allows him to enter the DRC to fight the LRA, alongside the Congolese Army and South Sudan. In response to the first offensives and bombings of their camps by the National Armies, militiamen have increased their attacks on villages around the park.
After Première Urgence's participation to an inter-agencies mission in Upper-Uélé in January, a further evaluation was conducted during 15 days, starting the 22nd February 2009 by two expatriate employees of the association and a Congolese agronomist. The team joined the Upper-Uélé from Bunia by road, and then travelled between the towns of Watsa, Faradje, Durba, Moku, Tora, Ndedu and Dungu by car and by motorcycle.
The work of the evaluation team covered the following aspects: priority needs of displaced and prospects for return to their villages of origin, state of roads and crossings works , local availability of food and market prices, situation in the villages, access to land for the displaced and impact of the crisis on agricultural activities.
Based on observations and discussions that the team had with the various actors on the spot, we plan to implement the following activities in the territories of Watsa and Faradje:
Individual assistance in agricultural inputs to displaced and other vulnerable groups:
- Market gardening for displaced, their host families and those directly affected by conflict (technical follow-up provided by local partners);
- Validation of access to land for displaced for subsistence crops;
- Support of seeds and hoes through direct distribution and seed fairs for the next growing season (sowing in May - June) for those who have access to land.
Food assistance for displaced / returned:
- Distribution of food rations to displaced for 3 months, starting in April 2009, in addition to the market gardening programme;
- Distribution of 30-day rations of food protection of seeds for sowing in May - June 2009. This assistance will cover the displaced but also returned, that is a total of 10,000 families.
Humanitarian access via tracks work:
- Work with high labour intensity / compensation for work.
