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Ugandan government must establish reparations programme for war victims

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:30:57 GMT

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

During northern Uganda's 20-year conflict between the Government of Uganda's (GoU) armed forces and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), widespread human rights abuses were committed by both sides.

Amnesty International documented the LRA's abduction of thousands of children and adults, unlawful killing of thousands of civilians, the rape of thousands of women and beatings of men, women and children during the 1986-2006 conflict.

The organization also documented human rights violations committed by the government's Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (UPDF). These included unlawful killings, rape and beatings of civilians. There was general impunity for soldiers who committed human rights violations against civilians.

The government of northern Uganda should establish an effective reparations programme for those victims of the conflict, according to a new Amnesty International report.

Left to their own devices examines the continued suffering of the victims of the hostilities and makes recommendations to the government on how to deal with the aftermath of the human rights violations that took place there.

Also documented as one of the most enduring effects of the conflict on civilians was, and remains, the massive displacement of about 1.8 million people from their homes into internally displaced persons' (IDPs) camps in which living conditions were often dire for IDPs in relation to shelter, hygiene, health and nutrition.

An Amnesty International delegation visited the northern Uganda districts of Gulu, Amuru, Kitgum, Pader and Lira in August 2008 and interviewed hundreds of victims of human rights violations suffered during the conflict. Amnesty International delegates also met with government officials and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including victims' groups.

Victims expressed the urgent need for the government to put in place an action plan, in consultation with them, to provide reparations, which addresses their current suffering. Victims and survivors of human rights violations committed during the conflict include victims of sexual and gender-based violence, formerly abducted youth and adults, survivors of killings and torture and those who still don't know where their loved ones are. They still bear the scars of these violations, many years after they were committed. Little has been done to ensure that victims and survivors have access to full and effective reparations that address their continued suffering and help them to rebuild their lives.

The government's Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) for northern Uganda, launched in September 2007, while proposing government policy on post-conflict recovery and development, does not establish a program which addresses the reparation needs of victims.

In addition, the two Agreements signed between the GoU and the LRA (on Accountability and Reconciliation; and Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration) under the auspices of the peace process attempt to lay a framework for reparations but contain significant flaws.

These Agreements do not ensure that the proposed framework for reparation will be informed by wide consultation with victims and survivors. Even with the PRDP and the two Agreements, it is not clear if, when, and what type of reparations will be granted to victims and survivors.

Amnesty International is calling on the government of Uganda to establish an effective reparations program which is victim focused, comprehensive, consultative with victims and the civil society and properly resourced. Such a program should provide for the five recognized forms of reparations: restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition.

The organization says that the program should deal with immediate challenges resulting from the conflict, including educational challenges/needs for children and youth; urgent medical treatment; medical psycho-social support and counselling on trauma and psychological effects of those affected by the conflict (including female victims); improved livelihoods to victims and survivors and an urgent inquiry into the whereabouts and fate of persons abducted by the LRA.

Amnesty International is also making recommendations to the international community, including the United Nations and key donors and the civil society to lobby for, support and participate in the establishment of a reparations program for victims and survivors of human rights violations committed during the conflict.

Amnesty International

GLOBAL: Emergency education gains ground

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 08:36:26 GMT

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Humanitarian policy-makers have endorsed internationally-agreed standards on rebuilding education sectors shattered by crises, in a move experts say shows that education is increasingly being regarded as life-saving.

The Sphere Project has endorsed emergency education standards created by the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), a network of 3,000 members representing UN agencies, NGOs, donors, teachers and students who promote education in emergencies.

“We believe education having been embraced within the Sphere family is a demonstration of the consensus in the humanitarian community that education must be considered as a sector within immediate emergency response,” said Alyson Joyner, project manager of Sphere.

The Sphere Project which sets minimum standards for food aid, shelter and other core humanitarian sectors, endorsed the INEE standards in October 2008, marking a change of approach. Prior to this Sphere had remained quiet about education because not all of its members saw it as life-saving and thus part of the classic humanitarian repertoire, according to Joyner.

Do standards work?

“Minimum standards are about boosting quality,” said Allison Anderson, INEE director. “The most powerful thing they can do is give people a goal to work towards, to help them build their [emergency] response strategy.”

The INEE standards outline how to recruit teachers, undertake an education assessment, write up codes of conduct for educators and work with communities to develop an education programme. “The more practical they are, the more useful they are," Anderson said.

Measuring the standards' impact is difficult with so many other variables, such as security and funding, Sphere's Joyner told IRIN. But despite this, she said, "There is mounting anecdotal evidence that minimum standards have had a positive impact."

The INEE cites as an example the Norwegian Refugee Council, which used the standards to develop a code of conduct for teachers in Somaliland in 2005. This was eventually made mandatory by the authorities for all teachers in the country.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) applied the INEE standards in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in 2007 to get communities to help design teaching tools. According to UNICEF using the standards gave the agency a stronger negotiating position with the Ministry of Education.

Standards not a panacea

But in some cases, even when organisations have good intentions to apply the standards, they may still be ineffective, Sphere's Joyner said.

People need the common sense to understand that the standards are a goal but cannot always be met, said Deborah Haines, emergency education adviser at Save the Children. “People need to understand these aren’t minimum standards, they’re maximum standards – they’re the ideal.”

She added: “We followed the standards religiously in the 2005 Pakistan earthquake when it came to participation of children, but ultimately being so by-the-book slowed us down.”

For Haines, the main problem in implementing the INEE standards is that many governments and agencies don’t know they exist.

Following the post-election violence in Kenya in January 2008, education NGOs and UNICEF put together an emergency education response with the Ministry of Education. “The ministry was very willing to engage, but didn’t know anything about these standards," Haines said. "Had [the government] known, we would have been able to all work together better and sooner."

And raising awareness costs. "More money would create good results through which to attract more money," Haines said. "But kick-starting that funding process is not easy."

Emergency education still under-funded

Emergency education received just 1.9 percent of the global 2007 humanitarian aid budget according to Save the Children research, and only 27 percent of the global education cluster funding requirements were met in 2007, with contributions from just four donors.

And only five donors include education as part of their humanitarian financing policy.

“The provision of quality education in emergencies is still viewed as secondary when compared to the provision of food, water, medical assistance and shelter,” Save the Children says in its report ‘Delivering education for children in emergencies’ -- part of its global campaign to improve emergency education response.

Having agreed standards can help agencies advocate for more money, Janice Dolan, head of education for Save the Children, said. “Standards are useful to hold up to governments and agencies to identify that education, too, needs to be a priority. And to make that a reality, more funding is needed."

Funding for emergency education should be 4.2 percent of the overall aid budget, Dolan said, in line with education needs.

While seen as low, donor funding to emergency education has increased in recent years. It made up 1.5 percent of the 2006 international humanitarian aid budget, 1.9 percent in 2007 and is expected to rise to 2.3 percent in 2008.

And an education cluster was formed in November 2006 alongside other core humanitarian sectors such as water and sanitation and health, as part of the humanitarian reform process initiated to enhance predictability, accountability and coordination in humanitarian aid.

IRIN

DRC: 150,000 children miss school as violence continues in the east

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 08:57:35 GMT

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has forced most schools in Rutshuru territory to close, leaving an estimated 150,000 children out of class, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.

"Most children have been displaced," Jaya Murthy, UNICEF communications specialist, told IRIN. "Other children are in the area but unable to attend school."

Fighting resumed late August in North Kivu between forces from rebel group Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP), led by former general, Laurent Nkunda, and the regular Congolese army allied with militias.

Since violence intensified two weeks ago, 85 percent of the 310 schools in the territory have suspended classes, while school buildings have been occupied by displaced civilians and the Congolese army.

According to UNICEF, the armed groups in the area are also continuing to recruit children as young as 14 in Kitchanga, Rugare and Rutshuru.

"From reports, we know that recruitment by all armed groups, except the Congolese army, is continuing in the area," Murthy added. "For example, up to 400 people have been recruited in Kitchanga area - ranging from 14 to 40 years of age."

An estimated 3,000 children were being held by the armed groups before the recent violence broke out, but the numbers are expected to soar.

The violence has sent civilians fleeing from their homes. According to UNICEF, tens of thousands of people are moving north due to ongoing looting in Kanyabayonga.

These include 15,000 to Kisharo, 15,000 to Vitchumbi, 5,000 to Butembo; and thousands between Kiwandja and Rutshuru. The displaced face a high risk of cholera and measles, increasing child malnutrition, and children being separated from their families.

"The situation is still tense, fluid, volatile," Murthy said. "Fighting erupts in different areas almost on a daily basis."

On 13 November, UN Radio reported two skirmishes between government troops and the armed PARECO movement. It also said 3,000 displaced civilians had recently arrived in Goma, the provincial capital.

At least 250,000 civilians have been displaced by the fighting, according to aid workers, including more than 65,000 civilians who are camped at Kibati, a few kilometres from the frontline.

The UN, which has a 17,000-strong peacekeeping force in eastern DRC, is considering sending in an additional 3,000 men to try to contain the situation.

IRIN

SUDAN: Cautious optimism over Darfur ceasefire call

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:52:29 GMT

Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Sudanese government’s announcement of a ceasefire in Darfur would not alone solve a crisis that has lasted nearly six years and left hundreds of thousands of people dead - but it offered a glimmer of hope, analysts said.

President Omar el-Bashir announced an "immediate, unconditional ceasefire" in Darfur on 12 November. He called for an immediate campaign to disarm militias accused of committing some of the worst atrocities during the conflict.

The pronouncements were among the recommendations of the Sudan People's Initiative, bringing together government, political opposition parties and civil society to brainstorm solutions to the crisis.

Darfur rebels boycotted the forum and one of the most powerful groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said it would not accept a ceasefire without a framework of agreement, declaration of principles and a timeframe for ceasefire.

"Without that, we are not interested in any talk that is not going to be substantiated by improvement on the ground," El-Tahir El-Fak, speaker of JEM's Legislative Assembly, said.

Observers said the success of the latest ceasefire depended not only on its implementation, but other political steps.

Pagan Amum, secretary-general of the Southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), a partner in a government of national unity following the 2005 peace deal, said the ceasefire was a good start.

"[But] declarations are not enough. Implementation is what is needed." Amum said this ceasefire alone would not be enough to convince the international community to suspend Bashir's likely indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, but rather, "a peace process, giving results and serious commitment".

While many are sceptical of just how genuine this latest commitment is, others doubt the promises made now will be kept if and when the ICC decides to issue an arrest warrant.

Pre-conditions

A Western diplomat said the government had to meet a set of criteria in order to seek a deferral of the indictment: faster deployment of the UN-African Union force, UNAMID, cessation of hostilities, a better environment for displaced people and humanitarian aid workers, and uninterrupted implementation of the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement.

This ceasefire, if it held, would satisfy only one of those criteria. What is more, the president announced the ceasefire with a caveat – "provided that an effective monitoring mechanism be put into action and be observed by all involved parties".
"There are no forces that can monitor the ceasefire," said Foreign Minister Deng Alor of the SPLM, adding that he doubted UNAMID had the capacity yet. "The decision to call for a ceasefire is a positive thing, but then it has to be made to work."

Other Sudan People's Initiative's recommendations – all endorsed by the president, who said he would create a special committee to monitor their implementation – included the release of Darfurian political prisoners, individual and collective compensation, and increased police presence in the camps for displaced people.

Darfur rebels said they were disappointed that some key issues were not nailed down, including the release of JEM fighters sentenced to death, making the three states of Darfur a semi-autonomous region, and giving the region a vice-presidential post.

These issues, according to analyst Alex de Waal, were critical for Darfurians, "because they provide those cast-iron guarantees that Darfur's wishes cannot be overridden by a national political system in which they are a numerical minority".

Bashir called on the rebels to come to the negotiating table and said he would create a committee charged with wooing them, but De Waal said: "Bashir needs to build a lot of confidence before he can expect the movements to respond positively."

Still, the analyst remained cautiously optimistic.

"The most important reality today is that the denial and self-imposed political paralysis that have marked the Sudanese political establishment's approach to Darfur have been decisively overcome ... There's a glimmer of hope."

IRIN

Fighting in Democratic Republic of Congo causes humanitarian tragedy

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:24:18 GMT

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Fighting continues on several fronts in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo despite a unilateral ceasefire declared by the armed group, the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), on 29 October. The CNDP's offensive in October forced a routed government army and hundreds of thousands of civilians down roads towards the provincial capital, Goma.

More than 250,000 people have so far fled the ongoing violence, bringing the total number of displaced people in the province to at least 1.2 million and possibly higher. Most are now living in displaced camps in the narrow belt of land that is still under government control around Goma.

"A human rights and humanitarian tragedy is underway in North Kivu province, but the UN Security Council, the European Union and African Union are sitting on their hands," said Andrew Philip, Amnesty International's researcher on Democratic Republic of Congo. "They have so far failed to give the UN peacekeeping force, MONUC, the reinforcements and equipment it needs to provide effective protection to civilians."

Conditions in the camps are said to be disastrous. New camps, many without latrines, potable water and shelters are still springing up. Some camps are within a few hundred metres of the front lines.

Dozens of cases of cholera have begun to be reported. Humanitarian agencies are doing their utmost to bring aid to these displaced, but are close to being overwhelmed by the scale of the suffering.

In the larger part of the province, in areas under armed group control or otherwise inaccessible to humanitarian aid, tens of thousands of displaced are unaccounted for and living without any organized assistance.

The human rights situation is no less deadly. On the night of 5/6 November, after fierce fighting between the CNDP armed group and pro-government mayi-mayi militia for control of the town of Kiwanja, CNDP fighters reportedly went from house to house, searching for mayi-mayi members they believed were hiding inside.

Witnesses told Amnesty International that large numbers of men, residents of Kiwanja, mainly aged between 18 and 30, "young fathers and newly-weds” (“jeunes papas et nouveaux mariés"), were taken from their homes and deliberately killed by the CNDP. Mayi-mayi fighters also reportedly unlawfully killed civilians they suspected of being CNDP supporters in and around Kiwanja.

Seventy-two people have so far been buried in the town, according to reports received by Amnesty International, some apparently killed by crossfire during the fighting, but many others in its aftermath. The bodies bear gunshot and stab wounds.

In Goma, on the night of 29/30 October, at least 18 killings were reported, most apparently victims of armed robbery and looting by government soldiers retreating through the city.

Amnesty International continues to receive daily reports of other war crimes and serious human rights abuses. In Masisi and Rutshuru territories, widespread abductions of children for use as child fighters, as well as rapes and killings of civilians are ongoing.

The crisis has unleashed a wave of high-level diplomatic activity, including a regional African Heads of State summit, chaired by the UN Secretary-General, to address the crisis, and missions by UN and AU Special Envoys as well as by senior US and EU politicians.

"But these diplomatic coming and goings have so far saved not one life; have opened up not one road for much-needed humanitarian aid," said Andrew Philip. "Many governments have expressed support for reinforcing MONUC, but so far the Security Council has not authorized deployment of the additional troops and specialist personnel and equipment MONUC says it needs.

Amnesty International is urging the international community to:

• make no more excuses.
• reinforce MONUC now.
• create safe corridors for humanitarian aid throughout North Kivu.
• put concerted international pressure on the fighting forces to halt all human rights abuses.

Amnesty International

GREAT LAKES: Trying not to repeat history

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:35:34 GMT

Sunday, November 09, 2008

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is on the brink of slipping back into the kind of devastating international war that raged from 1998 to 2003, according to one of the architects of the Great Lakes peace accords.

Jan van Eck, a former member of parliament in South Africa's African National Congress government, and a negotiator for 12 years in the troubled central African region, told IRIN: "The only solution people are trying is the use of military force. There is no military solution to this [the eastern DRC] whatsoever."

A year ago, he predicted another major conflict in eastern Congo, despite the comprehensive peace accords signed in 2003, arising from Rwanda's failure to grant full political rights to returning Hutus, some of whom had fled in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide.

"It is clear that unless a new strategy is formulated - one that will focus on addressing the real root causes of the conflict - the region will move irrevocably towards a major new crisis," Van Eck said in his November 2007 article: Ignoring the ethnic cancer in the Congo precludes the true peace.

"In such an event, not only the eastern DRC will be drawn in, but also its eastern neighbours, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, since the present ethnically based conflict in eastern DRC has its origins in these countries," he wrote.

Rwanda's 100-day genocide, in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered, is recognised as the 20th century's most efficient killing spree, eclipsing even the pace of Nazi Germany's extermination camps.

Van Eck said it had created "a sense of guilt" among the 140 signatories to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the convention adopted in the wake of the Second World War by the UN General Assembly in December 1948 and brought into effect in 1951, which compels signatories to act against genocide.

Former US President Bill Clinton's administration - smarting from the deaths of 17 US Army Rangers in 1993 in the Somali capital, Mogadishu - evaded the convention's obligations, referring to genocide as the "G-word", and speaking of "acts of genocide".

This sense of guilt, Van Eck told IRIN, has largely protected Rwanda's President Paul Kagame from international criticism, but unless Kagame permitted the formation of a "Hutu party that is not anti-Tutsi", instability in the eastern Congo would be an ever-present feature.

"Although in some circles it may be seen as politically incorrect to acknowledge this, it remains a critically important fact that too many people are trying to ignore," Van Eck said.

A recent breakaway by members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), comprised of Hutus involved in the genocide and who fled Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide as well as those opposed to Kagame's government, was denied any political space in Rwanda, which was contributing to the vicious cycle of conflict in the region.

"Unless Rwanda liberalises its internal political situation, and allows freedom of political and ethnic expression, it will remain under threat from politicised Hutus, most of whom are either in the DRC or in the diaspora," Van Eck said.

Africa's Second World War?

The factors that fomented the 1998 war, which became known as "Africa's First World War" because it involved regional armies from Angola, Burundi, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe, were still present today, Van Eck said.

In the past eight weeks, the conflict between the Congolese army and Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People, a rebel group operating in eastern DRC despite the presence of the UN peacekeeping mission, MONUC, has killed several hundred civilians and combatants, displaced more than 250,000 people - many for the second or third time in the last few years - and created an increasingly desperate humanitarian situation.

Since 2003, Rwanda has made repeated threats to invade eastern Congo to seek out the "genocidaires". It did so in 1996 - resulting in the deposing of Congolese despot Mobutu Sese Seko - and again in 1998, when Rwanda turned against its previous ally, Laurent Desire Kabila, igniting the 1998-2003 conflict.

Ileka Atoki, DRC's ambassador to the UN, recently claimed that the DRC had proof that Rwandan forces were in the DRC, which Rwanda has vehemently denied.

Nkunda's rebel group is recognised as a far superior military force to the ragtag Congolese army, which stands accused of fighting alongside the Hutu militia that the Kinshasa government has pledged to disarm.

Henri Boshoff, a military analyst at the Institute for Security Studies, a South Africa-based think tank, said in a security update on 31 October that the latest fighting was another episode in the DRC's "Somalification"; a reference to Somalia's uninterrupted internecine violence since the fall of President Siad Barre in 1991.

The current situation, Boshoff said, was the result of numerous factors, such as the non-completion of the disarmament process, the absence of a strong Congolese army, and because the peacekeeping force had "no clear guidelines as to the implementation of the mandate, rules of engagement and the use of force by MONUC."

MONUC's commander, Lt-Gen Vicente Diaz de Villegas, recently resigned after seven weeks in the job, citing "personal reasons", but Boshoff suggested the reason for his resignation could be MONUC's "ambiguity about the use of force", which has hampered its effectiveness.

Boshoff recommended that to avoid a Rwanda-genocide scenario playing out in eastern Congo, "the fighting must be stopped, and at the same time a mediation process between Rwanda and the DRC must be started as a matter of urgency."

Peace Efforts

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took part in a UN-sponsored African Union emergency summit in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on 7 November, which was also attended by DRC President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. As the summit opened, fresh fighting erupted near Goma.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will also discuss the DRC, a member country of the regional body, during an extraordinary summit in Johannesburg on 9 November, called to try and break Zimbabwe's political impasse.
"The only way to stop the fighting is for MONUC to implement its mandate to protect civilians against imminent threats of violence. If MONUC cannot implement its mandate because of lack of capacity, the deployment of an intervention force within the next few days is needed," Boshoff said.

However, neither SADC nor the African Union (AU) possessed the military capability; "the only power with the capacity to project force in such a short time is a European Union Battle Group," Boshoff commented.

According to reports on 6 November, a 1,000-member South African force deployed near Goma in North Kivu Province as part of MONUC has been ordered to engage Nkunda's forces should they approach Goma. Nkunda's forces are about 10km from Goma.

"If armed groups, whoever they might be, want to enter Goma, the rules of engagement of the United Nations and Chapter 7 [of the UN Charter] are sufficiently clear, that in this instance the instructions to be given are to shoot," Alain le Roy, head of MONUC, told reporters at a briefing in Goma.

IRIN

Armed aid convoys are an inadequate bandage for DR Congo's deep wounds

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 09:26:00 GMT

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Military-escorted aid convoys also risk blurring the line between humanitarian assistance and political-military action. MSF stresses the need to maintain this crucial distinction in the volatile Kivu region.

Widely publicized armed convoys of relief assistance to Goma and Rutshuru are an inadequate response to the humanitarian crisis facing the DRC's troubled North Kivu region, says international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

"Armed aid convoys may aim to improve access for humanitarian aid groups, but they actually risk reducing access to the populations," says Anne Taylor, an MSF Head of Mission in Goma. "There is a risk of aid being manipulated by political or military actors and of humanitarian actors being seen as parties to the conflict."

"MSF provides healthcare to all patients without discrimination," said Taylor. "Thanks to our neutrality, MSF teams can go where people need our assistance and not where we are instructed to go. MSF provides assistance without armed escorts."

Not only are the armed convoys risky, but their limited assistance is failing to reach large areas affected by conflict and displacement. Ample and widespread aid is urgently needed.

The recent escalation of violence in North Kivu has brought DRC back to the world's attention, but the suffering there is not new. For years MSF teams have witnessed widespread and repeated displacements of people throughout North Kivu.

The ceasefire agreement signed in January did not end their suffering. Hostilities that broke out at the end of August only exacerbated a conflict that had been going on for some time.

The conflict in the Kivu region goes far beyond Goma and Rutshuru. Over the past weeks, hundreds of thousands of people have fled in different directions. MSF is particularly worried about the people in the areas around Rutshuru, Kayna, Nyanzale and Masisi, who are in urgent need of water, food, healthcare and basic supplies.

Both a political solution and an adequate humanitarian response are needed. One cannot substitute for the other, nor should politics and humanitarian action be mixed. Doing so jeopardizes the neutrality of aid organizations and compromises their ability to operate in locations controlled by parties to the conflict.

Despite ongoing insecurity, MSF continues to work in towns affected by fighting, like Rutshuru, Kayna, Masisi, Kitchanga and Mweso. Throughout the region, the organization is treating war wounded and cholera patients, and providing other healthcare as well as clean water and basic relief items to displaced people and local residents.

MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES

DRC: Tens of thousands displaced in renewed fighting in North Kivu

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:58:11 GMT

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Tens of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) fled fresh fighting on 6 November between the army and fighters loyal to renegade general, Laurent Nkunda, in two areas of North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), just as aid workers had started distributing relief aid, UN sources told IRIN.

The most affected IDPs were in Kiwandja in Rutshuru territory, about 70km north of Goma, the provincial capital, and in Nyanzale, 60km north of Goma.

“FARDC [the Army] abandoned their headquarters in Nyanzale and a large number of displaced civilians are on the road, fleeing the fighting, which broke out at 7.30am on Thursday [6 November] between FARDC and CNDP [Congrès national pour la défense du peuple],” Madnodje Mounoubai, a spokesman for the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC), told IRIN.

The fighting occurred one week after Nkunda declared a unilateral ceasefire just as his fighters were several kilometres from Goma.

Francesca Fontanini, external relations officer for the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, in Goma, said a “massive food distribution” got under way on 5 November in six UNHCR-run camps for tens of thousands of IDPs.

“A four-truck UNHCR convoy carrying 33 tonnes of various aid items, including plastic sheeting, blankets, kitchen sets and jerry cans crossed Wednesday [5 November] from Rwanda into Goma, the capital of the conflict-hit province in eastern DRC,” she said. “The aid, from regional emergency stockpiles in Tanzania, was scheduled for immediate distribution.”

According to Fontanini, the food distribution was the first in North Kivu since serious conflict between the Congolese army and Nkunda’s fighters sent tens of thousands of displaced people fleeing for their lives. Many IDPS ended up in the six camps.

"The aid operations were made possible following a ceasefire and relative calm over the past few days but reports of fresh fighting on Tuesday [4 November] between the pro-government Mai-Mai militia and Nkunda's forces in the Rutshuru region are threatening to restrict the movement of humanitarian agencies once more," she said.
Earlier in the week, Fontanini said, UNHCR had helped to improve shelter and sanitation facilities at the crowded Kibati IDP camp, which is close to Goma and whose population grew from 15,000 to some 65,000 people in the space of a few days.

The biggest obstacle for humanitarian workers in North Kivu, she said, was the reduced or non-existent access to the most vulnerable civilians.

More than 250,000 people have been displaced since the fighting resumed in August in North Kivu.

IRIN

DRC: Instability increasing in Orientale province

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:47:23 GMT

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Airplanes may be needed to help some 6,000 people displaced during attacks by Ugandan rebels in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who are not accessible by humanitarian agencies, officials said.

“The idea is to send food and non-food items in by plane, given that it is difficult now to send a road convoy because of logistical and security reasons,” said Jean-Charles Dupin of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Orientale Province.

The civilians fled attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in September along the main north-south road in the province’s Dungu territory.

“The displaced are spread out across several villages in the forest. All figures for the numbers of displaced in Dungu territory are estimates,” Holly Berman, a senior protection officer with the UN Refugee Agency, told IRIN.

Moroccan troops from the UN Mission in DRC, MONUC, have set up a security perimeter in the area and government soldiers have also been deployed.

Earlier in October, the provincial government donated CFr7 million (about US$11,000) to help the people of Dungu.

“This amount is insignificant given the number of displaced; it’s about 50 US cents per person,” said local journalist Gracien Ira.

Some 113 people are reported to have been killed during LRA attacks over the past two months.

On 20 October, the Ugandan rebels struck the town of Bangadi, in Haut Uele district, and clashed with a civilian self-defence unit there. According to witnesses cited in an OCHA situation report, the LRA lost several fighters and in turn killed many people in Bangadi, including a teacher, an agronomist and a pharmacist. They also looted the hospital.

Meanwhile, in Ituri district, also in Orientale province, government troops have retaken some of the places previously held by DRC insurgents, although local authorities say 100,000 people in the district are still displaced.

“We know the fighters are not far away. We have to make sure the beneficiaries are not looted the night after a distribution,” said OCHA’s Dupin.

OCHA has described the humanitarian situation in Ituri as “worrying … Given the presence of armed groups across the district, the humanitarian community believes insecurity in the district could degenerate if adequate political and military measures are not taken quickly. Many people affected by this insecurity cannot be reached by aid workers.”

IRIN

LIBERIA: Mental health problems breed violence

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:14:32 GMT

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Liberia’s only mental health specialist says the country is experiencing an increase in post-traumatic stress disorders because the country’s two disarmament processes during 14 years of conflict did not address the psychosocial needs of ex-combatants, especially that of youths.

Dr. Benjamin Harris said he returned to his home country of Liberia in 1996 to oversee health services for the UN-organised demobilisation, disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration (DDRR) of fighters following Liberia’s first civil war from 1989-1996.

But violent political in-fighting after former president Charles Taylor took office in August 1997 ended nascent social services, said Harris. “The [DDRR] program ended without catering to the psychosocial needs of the ex-combatants,” Harris said.

Weapons gone, problems remain

Harris told IRIN the most recent DDRR exercise conducted after renewed fighting that ended in 2003 was another “missed opportunity.” DDRR efforts focused primarily on taking guns away without addressing ex-fighters’ social challenges, such as HIV/AIDS, substance abuse and sexual-based violence, according to Harris.

“There was a focus on rapid demobilisation and the psychosocial needs of the ex-combatants were not cater[ed] to,” Harris told IRIN. “The focus of the [DDRR] program was to get the arms away from the ex-combatants and now we are beginning to experience the repercussions of a failed demobilisation program relating to the psychosocial needs and mental well-being of the ex-combatants.”

Liberia’s Minister of Information, Lawrence Bropleh, told IRIN the government is trying to fill the potentially deadly social service gaps revealed in previous DDRR efforts: “There were lots of problems during the 2003-2004 disarmament process. What this government is trying to do is to take care of the flaws. As a society, we have not been placing a focus on it [mental health needs]. I think we have a better appreciation of the problem today than before.”

Bropleh said the government is finalising a draft of a nationwide mental health policy.

Mental health specialist Harris said such services are urgently needed: “Granted the [past DDRR] program was successful in getting most of the arms away, but what are the repercussions? The repercussions… include sexual and gender-based violence and aggressive and violent behaviour are being manifested all over the society, and [we are seeing] substance abuse on a wide scale.”

Drugs

Harris said in the absence of mental health services, some Liberians are turning to readily available illicit drugs. Cocaine can be bought for as little as US$5 and marijuana for less than 50 US cents in the capital, Monrovia, according to a draft of the country’s substance abuse prevention policy.

Harris said drug abuse complicates mental health treatment, and requires more community intervention to save youths, who are at higher risk for drug abuse, based on World Health Organization (WHO) research conducted in Monrovia earlier this year: “There is lots of work that can be done in the various communities at the church levels, among religious and traditional leaders, among others, who can play a major role in providing mental health services to the young people,” he said.

He added that as the country’s only clinically-trained mental health provider, he cannot serve more than three million people emerging from conflict. “My concern now is to provide training, guidance and direction to others in society [who] have been able to acquire a certain amount of training in the community to provide services at their level of professional expertise.”

Harris said Liberians have learned to live with mental illness during and immediately following brutal years of conflict. “People have been able to cope with the problem at a certain level, but that was during the war and they did it just for survival. But now they realise the difficulties caused by the war and they cannot cope any longer and so some are beginning to take their lives.”

Survival skills have their limits, Harris warned.

IRIN