Displaced children severely malnourished

Most people in the Kalonge area have left their villages as a result of attacks since late December, with an estimated 15,000 internally-displaced people (IDPs) now in Katana health zone and 9,000 in Kabare, the sources said. There is also an unverified report of 6,000-8,000 more displaced at Walungu, and an undetermined number of IDPs have arrived in Bukavu, they stated. Humanitarian sources said most of the Kalonge IDPs were living with local families and working in the fields of the host population to survive. With the influx of IDPs into Kabare, the price of some staple food items has more than doubled, making life more difficult for both the displaced and local residents, they said. A recent nutrition survey indicated that 7.8 percent of the displaced children in Kabare were severely malnourished, the sources added.