New approach to IDP assistance

Growing insecurity could lead to the disruption of food supplies in the Kivus, Province Orientale, Katanga and the Kasais, according to the latest monthly report from the OCHA field office in Kinshasa. Reduced areas of cultivation and poor access to markets were expected to cause shortages of essential food items, particularly in major urban areas, the report said.
Meanwhile, humanitarian agencies have decided to change their approach to providing assistance to internally-displaced people (IDPs) in eastern DRC in view of the changing pattern of displacement over the last two months.

Whereas most assistance had previously aimed at supporting the immediate return of IDPs to their own communities, it "can no longer be assumed that assisting IDPs to return home is the best option at the current time," the OCHA report stated. In view of the situation, aid would now be offered to displaced communities where they were located, it said. The total number
of IDPs in the DRC was now estimated at 1.3 million, an increase of some 90,000 since February, but assessments were underway in the Kivus to more accurately determine current IDP figures in the two provinces, the report added. Meanwhile, WFP said in its latest weekly emergency report that it planned to distribute food aid to 40,000 IDPs in South Kivu each month from April, mainly along the Bukavu-Nyabibwe road.