Influx of DRC refugees as WFP stocks run low

Zambia has received an influx of Congolese refugees fleeing fighting over the past three months in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, told IRIN on Thursday. UNHCR spokeswoman Melita Sunjic said "in November we had 621 cases, and after that we've had an average of 500 per month" arriving in Zambia from the DRC. "Apparently these people are from the villages of Kalemie, Moba, Pweto, Kizabi, Nsomboshi, Kapulo and Mwamge", where fighting between the main Mai Mai armed group and a splinter faction had caused instability, she said. Apart from new refugees, "there are also former refugees who tried to repatriate to ... the DRC, and they found that the situation there is not safe enough so they are coming back to their former country of asylum. There are also a few traders as well," Sunjic said. The influx of refugees comes at a time when the World Food Programme (WFP), which provides rations in the refugee camps, has warned that it is facing a break in its food aid pipeline due to a lack of funding. WFP spokeswoman in Lusaka, Lena Savelli, told IRIN earlier this week that "our refugee operation and our agricultural recovery programme [in Zambia] are facing shortages". "First and foremost we are in need of grain - cereals. The best thing would be for us to get cash donations, so that we are able to purchase maize grain locally... [as] it normally takes three months after a food donation is pledged for food to arrive in the country," she said. Savelli explained that halving rations in the refugee camps had been the response in previous years when the pipeline was threatened, but "that has not happened yet". "We are looking at a break in the pipeline as of February/March," Savelli noted, but "naturally, a considerable increase in the refugee population would also mean a considerable increase in our need for food".