Attachments
HIGHLIGHTS
• The security situation across eastern DRC remains highly volatile, with particular instability recorded in Masisi Territory in North Kivu as well as Kalehe Territory in South Kivu.
• UNHCR and its partners continue to carry out key activities under its protection mandate across North and South Kivu, including protection monitoring, awareness-raising, referral and case management, and participation in joint assessments.
• According to the National Commission for Refugees there have been approximately 24,000 voluntary spontaneous returns from Burundi to Uvira and surrounding areas in eastern DRC since the end of March. UNHCR is closely monitoring this dynamic. Amidst continued hostilities in areas surrounding Uvira, these returns may not be safe or sustainable with arrivals to DRC likely to continue.
• Over 121,000 people have fled from DRC to neighboring countries since the beginning of the year. While the number of new arrivals recorded to Burundi over the past 7-days has remained relatively low, Uganda has received record numbers of new arrivals over the past 7-days.
• On 8 April, the UNHCR Representative in Uganda gave a press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on the continuing influx of Congolese refugees to Uganda. The representative highlighted how this influx and the ongoing funding crisis is impacting both the response to new arrivals and more protracted refugee populations.
• Separate from the eastern DRC crisis, ongoing arrivals continue to be reported from MaiNdombé Province in western DRC to the Republic of the Congo (RoC). Close to 8,000 new arrivals have been received in RoC from DRC since the beginning of the year following the escalation of ethnic and inter-communal violence. Over 20 per cent of these new arrivals have been recorded since 7 April.