DRC September 2006 |
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| More money needed for displaced persons, (UN IRIN, 2006-09-08):-Jan Egeland, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, has been touring central and eastern Africa since Tuesday. He visited the Democratic Republic of Congo and will be in Uganda and Sudan at the weekend. Egeland is assessing the humanitarian situation in this region where armed groups remain active, despite general elections in the DRC and peace deals in Uganda and Sudan. IRIN spoke to Egeland in the DRC's Katanga Province about the plight of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the voluntary disarmament of former combatants. One of his concerns was the former Mai-Mai rebels in one village, Kankonona, who had not been given food, clothing and other basic necessities, despite voluntarily disarming. The fault lay with the National Commission on Demobilisation and Reinsertion (CONADER), which had not supplied the former rebels with a reinsertion package; humanitarian organisations could not help until CONADER and the army give them certificates to prove they were non-combatants. The following is an excerpt of an interview with Egeland. "I brought it up with the governor of Katanga [Kisula Ngoy] personally," Egeland said. "He promised to again impress upon CONADER that they have to do their job. That is why apparently US $200 million has been given to CONADER. And, therefore, it must not stop. We all have to perform our job. "It's my job to help the displaced return, and to see that the humanitarian community does its job. I will also discuss this with the World Bank [the main sponsor of CONADER] to see how it can urgently do something to make sure the body to do the reintegration package works. We [the UN] cannot do it." There are still Mai-Mai combatants who are active in the north of Katanga and need help in demobilising. "If they do not get assistance they may well choose to stay armed and that would be a very severe security risk for the future," Egeland said. A persistent security problem, roundly condemned by Egeland, is rape. He said: "It's a cancer in Congolese society, this impunity for violence against the most vulnerable, women and children. Men in uniform, whether they are wearing government or militia uniforms, are still attacking and abusing the civilian population in a totally unacceptable manner. We are talking about thousands of rapes every single month in the Kivus, in Katanga, in Ituri and in many other places of the Congo. It has to change. I discussed this in detail with President [Joseph] Kabila; I discussed it in detail with the governor of Katanga. I will continue to speak to all persons of authority and say we demand accountability for military and civilian leaders to bring an end to impunity." Three years ago, Egeland referred to the Congo as the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world. While the situation overall is improving, Egeland said the UN had been too slow in responding to the displacement crisis in Katanga. "Assistance came only in April more or less, whereas the problem started in January. I think lessons are being drawn by all the UN agencies and that an ambitious programme is now being implemented in Katanga. There is more food coming in, there are more trucks coming in, there is some more agricultural assistance, there is a lot of assistance to the returning refugees. "At the moment the UN is really performing well and I could also see for myself, if the UN is not there the whole programme suffers. So, I am glad to see major progress and I think we are drawing lessons here in the Congo that in the future we need to be more proactive in responding [more quickly]. "Of the 3.6 million IDPs in the Congo in 2003 when I was here, now there are 1.5 million IDPs. So more than two million people have returned. I think it is important to be aware of great needs that are still there but we are making progress. "It is very important that the international community understands that many more have been assisted and more money now has to be invested in early recovery so that the people returning will get more assistance. Still, the programme is too small in the Congo; still many people are dying from preventable diseases and from social neglect." Egeland said it the country were allowed to return to a state of war it could again become "the worst emergency in the world". "In eight years, an estimated four million people died from the consequences of the wars and the consequences of the lack of assistance. In the end that should really teach us that we have to stay the marathon to the end and do more to make sure that the Congo is not only winning the fight against impunity but also the struggle for lasting peace." | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |