From irin@dha.unon.org Wed Nov 13 13:47:08 1996 Date: Mon, 4 Nov 1996 12:52:26 +0300 (GMT+0300) From: UN DHA IRIN - Great Lakes To: irinlist@dha.unon.org Subject: Zaire: IRIN Update on Eastern Zaire for 3-4 November 96.11.4 U N I T E D N A T I O N S Department of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin@dha.unon.org >From today, IRIN will try to provide twice-daily updates on the evolving situation in Eastern Zaire. Feedback is welcome. IRIN Emergency Update No. 5 on Eastern Zaire (4 November 1996) UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, called on Sunday for humanitarian aid corridors to be set up between Zaire and Rwanda to enable refugees to return to Rwanda and Burundi. She said there were tens of thousands of displaced Zaireans as well as the mainly Hutu refugees from Burundi and Rwanda in need; the UN estimates more than one million civilians are fleeing fighting. Most are cut off from humanitarian aid - although local Zairean aid workers reportedly continue rudimentary relief in some areas. According to Ogata, UNHCR has lost contact with 520,000 Burundi and Rwandan refugees since fighting broke out in the Uvira and Bukavu regions, and the vast majority of 715,000 refugees in the Goma region have fled over the last few days. She said 400,000 refugees in Mugunga and Lac Vert camps near Goma appeared to be heading for Sake (west of Goma on the northwest tip of Lake Kivu). French Consul Patrick Lumes, Goma, was reported (Sunday) as saying more than a million people were huddled in one Lake Kivu bay in "appalling conditions". Ogata said Assistant High Commissioner Sergio Vieira de Mello would leave Monday (today) for Rwanda and Zaire to discuss with officials how to ease the crisis. She emphasised "this may be a final appeal to all those involved in this terrible conflict or it will be too late". UN officials, diplomats and NGOs met in Kigali on Sunday to discuss emergency strategies, including humanitarian corridors. A key issue is whether the corridors will be supply or repatriation corridors - depending on the stance of Rwanda (who wants Hutu "exiles" back inside Rwanda) and Zaire (who may consider it "support" to the rebels, or a violation of sovereignty). Corridors may be established with different functions, for example, those with a repatriation function may allow rudimentary supplies or be exclusively for refugee movement. There are continuing contacts between the Rwandan government, aid agencies, donors, UN officials and diplomats on ways to mitigate the humanitarian crisis and facilitate aid. Further discussions will take place today. In Nairobi (Sunday) NGOs and UN representatives met to discuss emergency relief strategies, and individual agencies are planning to establish emergency offices in Nairobi and elsewhere to coordinate response and set up programmes. UNHCR says it has requested satellite images to assist in identifying the whereabouts and situation of the refugees. Groups of Burundian returnees have been arriving back in their country of origin. About 11,000 have arrived at Gatumba during the course of last week, displaced when the Uvira camps were taken by rebels early on in the fighting. Another 12,000 returnees arrived over the weekend, who have been registered by the Burundian army as having returned to the northwestern province of Cibitoke (which is mainly controlled by Hutu Burundian rebels). Of the 11,000, 700 have moved back to their home areas with the assistance of the government and aid agencies; 400 went to Gatumba town; and 300 moved to Bujumbura-Rurale. Action Contre le Faim (ACF) reports 17% severe malnutrition among 600 under 5s at Gatumba. This is one of the first indications that some of the dispersed refugees are arriving in a state of malnourishment - under 80% weight for height is classified as moderate by aid agencies). DHA IRIN was informed that stocks of food already available in the region are estimated to be 78 days' worth, using half rations for two million people. UNICEF said a plane (arranged through DHA's Military and Civil Defense Unit) carrying 30 tonnes of medical supplies was leaving Copenhagen for Uganda's Entebbe airport, and more supplies would follow. Access points for emergency supplies are Kigali (previous stocks exist in anticipation of refugees returning), Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Burundi is also a possible access point, although presently gripped by regional sanctions following the July coup. The Regional Sanctions Coordinating Committee had refused the passage of any food aid through or to Burundi, but relaxed conditions on October 21st to allow for displaced Burundians - it therefore stands as a possible land route. The Rwandan government has refused since April 1995 to allow food to pass through Rwanda to refugee camps in eastern Zaire, which held many of those implicated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Aid workers in the region have noted the following impediments to operations: aid vehicles and logistical equipment have been looted and commandeered; the relief structures have been destroyed; air drops are impracticable because refugees are scattered; chronic fuel shortages and poor road access and continued fighting. Refugees are faced with hostile geographical terrain as well as fighting - mountains, volcanic ground and forests, often in torrential rain. There are continued reports of bodies washed up on the shores of Lake Tanganika. Laurent-Desire Kabila, identified as head of the rebel coordinating committee, called on Sunday for aid organisations to return to eastern Zaire. He declared Bukavu and Goma, the two main towns of eastern Zaire, under rebel control, and said they planned to re-open Goma airport. Kabila said on the BBC (Monday) that Kiliba airstrip, servicing Uvira, was available. He said there was famine and continued population movement. Nairobi, 09:55 GMT, 4 November 1995 [ENDS] [Via the UN DHA Integrated Regional Information Network. The material contained in this communication may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN DHA IRIN Tel: +254 2 622123 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail: irin@dha.unon.org for more information. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.]