Equateur fighting limits access to alarming refugee numbers

UNHCR staff have received “alarming reports” of a rapid rise in the number of DRC refugees who have fled to Njoundou, Republic of Congo, to which there is no humanitarian access, as a result of the continued fighting in Equateur Province between the government’s Forces armees congolaises (FAC) and the rebel Mouvement de liberation du congo (MLC). Congolese refugees in Njoundou had sent word to the UNHCR that they now number over 20,000 at the site, north of the confluence of the Congo and Ubangui rivers. The agency counted some 5,200 people there on 8 July, and conducted tests which later confirmed the presence of shigella, a cholera-like disease, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said on Friday. UNHCR had also been alerted that up to 5,000 refugees had fled recent fighting around Dongo and Imese, in Equateur, to Africa Moussa, a remote village 120 km north of Impfondo in the Republic of Congo, he added. “The fighting and presence of DRC military vessels in the region have brought traffic along the busy river to a virtual standstill. UNHCR has appealed urgently to both the DRC and RoC authorities to safeguard humanitarian operations and facilitate the immediate travel of a barge carrying tonnes of desperately needed relief supplies,” Redmond said. A barge previously used to deliver supplies to the Njoundou area had earlier been detained by DRC troops, and the Republic of Congo authorities had advised against any movement on the river north of Liranga, he said. This was a warning the UNHCR was taking seriously, particularly since a team of agency and NGO staff was intercepted by DRC troops on the river in May and detained for several days, Redmond added. UN Special Representative for the DRC Kamel Morjane last week called for a stop to the fighting in Equateur, a sentiment echoed in a press statement by the UN Security Council on Wednesday.