Nearly four million displaced or otherwise vulnerable

In addition to nearly three million refugees and displaced persons, the Great Lakes Region has some 770,450 persons in vulnerable situations, nearly half of them - 344,000 - in Tanzania, according to the latest report on ‘Affected Populations in the Great Lakes Region’, issued today by OCHA. Another 309,814 are in Rwanda, says the report, which defines detainees and people facing food shortages among the vulnerable. Other countries with vulnerable populations are Uganda (80,453) and the DRC (36,183).

The vulnerable bring the total number of affected persons in the Great Lakes Region to 3,739,541. Refugees total 870,631: Tanzania (336,814), DRC (192,938), Uganda (187,481), Rwanda (32,111), Burundi (22,452), the Republic of Congo (11,219) and 87,616 others. Of the 2,086,422 IDPs, more than half are in Rwanda (673,858) and Burundi (548,196). There are 374,490 in Uganda, 303,878 in the DRC and 186,000 in the Republic of Congo. Unaccompanied children total 12,038 - 5,300 in Rwanda, 4,500 in Burundi and 2,238 in Tanzania.

However, OCHA cautions that since the number of affected people tends to change fast, it believes the overall figure of 3,739,541 is a conservative estimate.