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DR Congo

Congo deals with volcano eruption recovery and conflict updated Apr 2002

Things are slowly getting back to normal in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. The news cameras are long gone, but the needs remain. Those who were left homeless by the volcanic eruption have been seeking temporary shelter in local schools and churches or with family for the last few months. Others who fled the country after the eruption continue to return. Now they must begin the task of rebuilding their lives and homes.
Catholic Relief Services continues to coordinate with local partner Caritas Goma to help families recover from the devastation of the eruption. Distributions of necessities such as blankets continue for families returning to Goma and for others who may have been missed during earlier distributions.

CRS Aids Volcano Victims

Immediately following the eruption, CRS allocated an initial $50,000 towards relief efforts in Goma. The allocation was used to distribute food and necessities such as blankets and soap during the initial emergency relief phase. As the emphasis shifts to more long-term reconstruction and rebuilding efforts, the agency will continue to work closely with other humanitarian, U.S. Government, and church organizations, such as Caritas Goma to coordinate activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Activities completed to date include:

In March, CRS and Caritas Goma began the Goma Transition Shelter Program to provide temporary shelter and latrines to 3,000 families (approx. 22,800 people). The program is helping families living in emergency shelters (including schools, etc.) first. The families have already identified locations for their temporary homes, usually building on land owned by friends or family members. Several demonstration shelters have been constructed to help guide the families and training is also being offered. Shelter materials including wooden beams, corrugated roofing sheets and plastic sheeting, were distributed to the first group of families at the end of March.

CRS is helping Caritas Goma rebuild schools destroyed by the eruption. A $25,000 grant that CRS received from the U.S. Embassy's Emergency Fund in February was used to construct six classrooms, part of an 18 classroom complex which is almost complete. Together with other local and international agencies, a total of 220 temporary classrooms will be constructed for students of the 47 schools destroyed in the eruption.

Caritas Goma continues to make twice monthly food distributions to 4,500 families (approx. 34,200 people). CRS and Caritas Goma completed a major food distribution that reached approximately 14,460 families (approx. 110,000 people) in mid-February. A nonfood distribution (soap, blankets, etc.) was also completed and reached approximately 15,015 families (approx. 115,000 people).

CRS staff held a training session for volunteers who registered the returning population in Goma immediately following the eruption. The registration helped ensure that those in need received food and necessities.

The agency transported blankets, dust masks, water containers, and other necessities donated by the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance into Gisenyi (Rwanda) and Goma

The Ongoing War

On top of natural disasters, the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo) is now in its fourth year. At least seven African countries and three rebel groups are involved, and more than 50 million innocent lives have been disrupted and jeopardized. Ugandan and Rwandan military forces and their local rebel allies - in an attempt to secure their borders - have controlled more than 60 percent of the country since 1998. The Congolese people, who are caught in the middle of the struggle, have suffered greatly as a result. In some areas of the country, it is extremely difficult for the local population to purchase necessities such as medicine, soap or salt. Every aspect of life has been disrupted.

There are signs that the situation will improve. In 1999, all parties signed a peace accord in Lusaka, Zambia that provided for a cease-fire, the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers, and a dialogue with civil society groups to lead a transition to democracy. After stagnating for more than a year, there was a new commitment to the Lusaka Accord following the January 2001 installation of President Joseph Kabila. In March 2001, foreign governments involved in the conflict began withdrawing their troops. CRS remains committed to helping the people of the Congo achieve lasting peace.

Catholic Relief Services Responds

CRS has been working tirelessly in the Congo throughout the war. One of the most impressive recent accomplishments, and a fulfillment of one of the agency's key objectives in the Congo, has been the strengthening of relations with the Congolese Catholic Church on peace and justice issues both locally and internationally. CRS has supported several visits by Congolese Bishops to the U.S. to provide them with an opportunity to describe the situation from their perspective and share directly with the U.S. Church and public.

"Owoto"

Owoto", a humanitarian river convoy which left Kinshasa for the Sankuru district in the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo, reached the town of Bena Dibele at the end of February. The remote Sankuru district has suffered extreme isolation since the outbreak of war three years ago. This convoy, which carried more than 760 metric tons of humanitarian aid for vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women and widows, is the first of its kind since the war started and forced a closure of all commercial and humanitarian river traffic on the Sankuru River

"What we are really aiming to do with this project is open up the river to normal traffic," said Cassie Knight, a CRS Program Officer who has been involved in the project since its inception. "This is something that all of the parties have agreed to, and we're hoping river traffic can restart."

After the manufactured goods were unloaded, the barges were reloaded with locally purchased maize and rice, which was taken back to Kinshasa at the end of March to be distributed to health and social service programs in the city - part of a CRS-supported effort to stimulate the local economy in the agriculturally rich region surrounding Bena Dibele. Though able to grow a variety of foods locally, farmers in the region have been unable to sell their goods since river traffic was halted, strangling the local economy.

"This is a region that has relied on river transport for its whole history," Knight said. "For the people here to see the arrival of the boat was a sign of hope."

Over the past two years, CRS has also been working with the medical offices of Tshumbe and Kole dioceses to provide emergency health care services to the population of Sankuru, including vaccinating children and pregnant women and providing access to essential medicines.

"Owoto" is a collaborative effort by CRS, its partners the diocesan agencies of the Dioceses of Tshumbe and Kole, and Caritas Congo, with support from a variety of local United Nations and humanitarian agencies and Caritas Internationalis partners.

Items Distributed in the Sankuru District of DRC

  • Medicines
  • Seeds and tools
  • Educational materials
  • Salt
  • Soap
  • Clothing
  • Rehabilitation materials

Emergency Health and Nutrition in Kabinda

CRS has been providing emergency assistance to the people of Kabinda, in Kasai Oriental province, over the past two years. The program has had to adjust to multiple changes, most recently the withdrawal of troops that had been besieging the city. Since then, Kabinda Hospital, managed by CRS' partner the Alliance for Charity, has been receiving hundreds of severely malnourished and sick patients from previously unassisted rebel-controlled areas.

CRS and its partners have responded by opening two feeding centers in town and by providing urgently needed medical supplies, equipment and other support for the hospital and accessible health centers, an intervention funded by USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. Last fall, CRS and local partners distributed seeds and tools to close to 4,000 previously displaced families within 22 miles around Kabinda. This will be their first harvest in over two years.

Angolan Refugees in Bas-Congo Province

In Bas-Congo province south of Kinshasa, CRS is helping its diocesan partners provide assistance to Angolan refugees in Ngidinga and in Kimvula territories of Kisantu diocese. Fleeing conflict in Makela do Zombo, Angola, close to 20,000 refugees crossed the border into Kisantu Diocese in the spring and summer of 2001.

In collaboration with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Program, CRS and its partners have been managing a resettlement site for 4,500 refugees and providing health and nutritional assistance to the whole 15,000 refugees who resettled in the Congo. Assistance has also been provided to the resident population in these resettlement areas. Since 1999, CRS and the medical office of Kisantu diocese have been involved in a long-term community health project in the area. In February 2002, CRS received an additional $500,000 from UNHCR to provide medical care, education, food and nonfood assistance to the Angolan Refugees.

Background

Early in the morning on January 17, Mount Nyiragongo in eastern Congo (on the border between Rwanda and Congo) erupted spewing lava in several directions. One flow headed for the town of Goma (Congo) where it literally split the town in half, and another toward Gisenyi (Rwanda). Nearly one hundred people died including an estimated 50 people who perished when a gas station exploded in Goma. Tens of thousands of people fled to Rwanda following the eruption, although many began returning to Congo shortly thereafter.

Throughout this decade, the "Great Lakes Region" in Africa has been gripped by ongoing political, security, social, and humanitarian crises including the horrific Rwandan genocide in 1994. Continued insecurity in Rwanda and Burundi have intersected with political/ethnic conflict and now civil war in Congo leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths and even more displacement in one of the most complex emergency situations ever known.

CRS remains committed to the people in these countries. Having worked in the region since the mid-1960s, the agency has supported food security interventions, health projects and numerous emergency responses.

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Copyright=A92001 CRS