Over 8,000 displaced on outskirts of capital

The United Nations is assisting at least 8,000 people on the outskirts of Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, who were displaced in October by instability. Many of the IDPs, who started to flee "lawless conditions" in the Pool region in mid October, had arrived in Brazzaville in "poor conditions", the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Friday. They were currently sheltering in seven different sites where UN officials had begun to monitor their health conditions for signs of outbreaks of diseases. While no severe health problems had been reported so far, people remained at risk due to insufficient sanitation, OCHA said. Water purification supplies, medicines, food, buckets, blankets, mosquito nets and soap had been distributed to nearly 1,200 of a total of over 2,700 households. However, the UN said it lacked bladders, pumps and water tanks necessary to ensure supplies of clean water. All of the sites being used by the IDPs had reached their capacity limit, OCHA said. The UN has begun to identify alternative sites with adequate shelter and water outlets as alternatives. The IDPs fled mostly from the district of Mbandza-Ndounga, as well as Kinkala, Louingi and Boko. They reported being attacked by bandits, which forced them to move towards the capital.