CERF gives $7 million to help people cope with violence in eastern DRC
 |
|
Rwandan refugees in North Kivu, DRC [Photo: IRIN]
|
16 July 2009: Some 250,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s troubled North and South Kivu provinces will receive urgently needed humanitarian assistance thanks to a $7 million allocation from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
Together with Government authorities, United Nations humanitarian agencies are working to provide families in need with basic necessities including shelter, water and sanitation, primary healthcare, education as well as assistance to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
Some $4 million will assist 43,000 displaced families with basic relief necessities through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Another $2.5 million will provide potable water to 250,000 persons - also through UNICEF - in the severely affected areas of Walikale and Lubero, where water borne diseases have doubled in the past few months. In addition, $500,000 will bolster the World Health Organization’s efforts to make basic healthcare accessible to 170,000 people including 3,200 children less than five years of age. The CERF funding will pay for health kits to be used in 10 clinics.
Military confrontations between the Congolese army (FARDC) and the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) and general insecurity in North and South Kivu have caused significant internal displacement since January 2009. There are today an estimated 1.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Kivus.
The CERF allocation comes in response to a special urgent appeal for $38 million to humanitarian action in the Kivus, which was launched in June. This appeal is still short of $18 million.
[Last update: 17 July 2009]
CERF allocates over $12 million for humanitarian assistance in Haut and Bas Uélé districts in DRC
 |
|
An old woman lies dying surrounded by family members in a hospital in a remote area in DRC [Photo: IRIN]
|
26 May 2009: Attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) continue to aggravate the humanitarian situation in DRC, Sudan and Uganda and the Humanitarian Coordinator in DRC has designated Haut Uélé as a priority area. Donors have expressed their intention to fund humanitarian assistance in the area but the sheer scale of current requirements has left a significant gap.
To cover the gap and meet immediate, life-saving needs, CERF has released nearly $10 million to four UN agencies working in the region. The UN, government counterparts and NGO partners will use the funding to provide urgent assistance to tens of thousands of victims of the fighting, including shelter, healthcare, clean water, sanitation and food. Some 13,000 families who have lost land and farming inputs due to the conflict will receive emergency agricultural inputs for the production of short-cycle crops in order to feed themselves and their communities
A $3 million grant from CERF will allow United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) to operate in DRC for three months without interruption and while additional funding from the donor community is secured.
[Last update: 12 June 2009]