150 people return home to Pool region

Displaced residents of the troubled Pool region in the Republic of Congo are gradually returning home under a government-facilitated programme that saw 150 people make it back to their village of Fiya on Saturday. They had fled the Pool in 2002 when the civil war erupted in the area between government troops and the so-called Ninja rebel forces loyal to the Rev Frederic Bitsangou, alias Pasteur Ntoumi. Saturday's returnees to Fiya arrived on board two government vehicles from the villages of Inga and Oka, some 45 km north of the nation's capital, Brazzaville, where they survived by farming over the last two years. To ease their resettlement, the government provided the returnees with rice, salt, mosquito nets, jerry cans, mattresses and blankets. Although welcome, some returnees are saying this aid is inadequate, given that Fiya was the hardest hit village in Mayama District during the civil war. "I am willing to return to my village, [but] how will I manage? I don't having cooking pots. The authorities must answer this important question," Martine Gantsiele, a returnee, said before the journey to Fiya. "It is not possible to live in Fiya," Rodrigue Tsampou, another returnee, said. "Sure peace has returned, but there are no houses. It's almost a desert." The government has promised to help. An official with the Ministry of Humanitarian Action, Marie Cecile Tchissambou, said the initial donation to the returnees was symbolic. "All that you've asked for will be brought to you to the village," she added. Despite the hardships they endured, life is gradually picking up for Fiya's returnees. The deputy prefect of Mayama District, Maurice Mampouya, said a good portion of the population had already returned and "socially relations are good". Of the area's 16 primary schools, 12 have re-opened. The district's main hospital is now functioning and has a six-month supply of medicines. In September, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that an "acute humanitarian crisis" remained in the Pool. It said several inter-agency humanitarian assessment missions to the region between May and August revealed that infrastructure had been destroyed, sanitation was seriously lacking, the health and nutritional situation was "of grave concern" and children, in particular, were dying of acute malnutrition. Between 1998 and 2002, at least 100,000 people fled the Pool region and sought refuge in Brazzaville and its neighbouring areas. Still, with the return of relative peace since the government and Ninjas ended hostilities in March 2003, the government began a voluntary "organised return" programme in January 2004. Under this programme, the government closed down all sites holding internally displaced persons in the southern areas of Brazzaville in April. The programme also incorporates Pool residents who are living with host families in Brazzaville, a good number of who have already returned. [On the Net: CONGO: UN warns of "acute humanitarian crisis" in Pool region]