Three months after a peace deal was signed between the Congolese government and armed rebel groups, fighting in North Kivu province continues to threaten tens of thousands of people who have once again been forced to flee their homes.
"In the last few weeks, 40,000 people have been displaced," said Elinor Raikes, the IRC's rapid response mechanism coordinator in North Kivu. "We are using all our resources and all of our teams are always on the ground," Raikes said.
The Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) is an initiative funded by UNICEF that allows IRC teams in Congo to respond within 72 hours of an emergency. Interventions include water, sanitation, distribution of essential items, and hygiene and education activities.
In April, the IRC built latrines, showers and emergency classrooms for the displaced in more than 13 different locations in the war-torn province. Over 4,000 households received clothing, soap, plastic sheeting, jerry cans, mosquito nets, and other essential items, while nearly 60 classrooms were constructed or rehabilitated and over 6,000 teachers and students received school equipment.
"The peace process gave us a period of relative calm and good access, so we could reach a large number of communities that were inaccessible during the fighting," Raikes said.
But that progress may now be lost. In recent weeks the ceasefire has been broken by armed groups on all sides and the government, and the threat of further escalation looms.
"The fear is that the situation will disintegrate to where it was six months ago and we'll be responding to yet more displacements," said Raikes. "We can predict which areas will be most affected by the fighting, but whether we'll be able to access those communities depends on which direction people are going to flee in and what the security conditions in those areas will be like"
An estimated 900,000 people have been displaced in North Kivu since last September. On April 23, the IRC along with 62 international and Congolese NGOs, released a statement demanding an end to the violence, the implementation of the peace accords and the appointment of a UN special advisor on human rights for eastern Congo.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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