Special Report on OCHA's emergency field unit

For a decade, Walikale Territory in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was isolated from the rest of the country by war and impassable roads. An area of dense tropical rain forest, the territory - as large as Rwanda - with its 600,000 or so inhabitants, could not be reached from the towns of Kisangani to the northwest, Goma and Bukavu to the southeast. Soldiers of the former rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie (RCD-Goma) occupied Walikale town, while the pro-government Mayï-Mayï militias controlled the surrounding forests; they were mutually hostile, a state of affairs which served to seal off the area from humanitarian access. Isolation ends But all that changed after the establishment of the government of national unity on 30 June 2003; the setting up of its transitional institutions; and the deployment of regional military commanders. These events resulted in improved security that enabled the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to conduct an inter-agency assessment mission in the second half of 2003. Its findings showed that some 8,000 of Walikale town's estimated 10,000 residents were in immediate need of aid, most particularly of food and education, the OCHA liaison officer in Goma, Lucien Simba, told IRIN on 13 April. To get things moving, the head of OCHA's DRC office, Jahal Rabesahala de Meritens, and his deputy, Gilbert Gitelman, suggested the rapid deployment of a temporary field unit in the territory. The aim was for the unit to act as a magnet for other humanitarian actors to intervene and meet the population's short and long-term needs. The unit, which has been in Walikale since January, allows for the evaluation of these needs; for new humanitarian partners to work in the area; and for the creation of a dynamic working relationship between humanitarian actors and local authorities.

OCHA humanitarian field unit at Walikale

Most pressing was the need for food. One of the reasons was that all farmers had been displaced at least once by fighting and most had lost their implements in the process, Simba said. The other reason was that the massive presence of armed groups in the area, which had subsisted by pillaging farms, prompted farmers to cultivate only enough crops to feed their own families, Marino Contiero, the project coordinator for the Italian NGO Associazione Volontari per il Servizio Internazionale (AVSI), told IRIN. The mission found that in addition to the residents of Walikale town, there were about 2,000 former RCD-Goma soldiers in the town, as well as some 4,000 Mayï-Mayï fighters, who tended to spend a week or so there following pay days, Simba added. Peace restored Although coexistence between the armed groups has been difficult, there has been no fighting. This has enabled OCHA, on behalf of the international community, to persuade the leaders of these groups to sign an "act of engagement", in which they have committed themselves to respecting humanitarian principles and creating a security climate conducive to humanitarian intervention. Four months after establishing the OCHA humanitarian field unit in Walikale, a coordination meeting comprising humanitarian actors; observers from the UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC; the governor of North Kivu Province, Eugène Serufuli; the administrator of the Walikale territory, Eric Kisa Kalobera; and Gitelman was held to review humanitarian action taken and difficulties encountered.

Access to Walikale possible only by air

Currently, the only international NGOs consistently operating in Walikale are Médecins Sans Frontières-Holland (MSF-H) and AVSI; but by virtue of the presence of the OCHA field unit and support from the local authorities, other NGOs are able to visit Walikale periodically to make their evaluations. NGOs take action MSF-H was the first NGO to arrive on the scene and launched its operations in September 2003. The medical situation it found was alarming: residents had had no access to health care for years, there had been no routine vaccinations, and the maternal mortality rate was high. MSF-H accordingly rehabilitated the general hospital. In December 2004, it established a therapeutic nutritional centre, now caring for 85 children. Then, with the support of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), it conducted a measles vaccination drive from 15 to 22 March 2004 to protect 10,000 children aged between six months and five years. Now, MSF-H, supported by UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme (WFP), has also resumed work in the nutritional sector, the MSF-H head of mission, Jean-Christophe Dollé, told IRIN. He said MSF-H was also supporting a primary health-care centre and a unit dealing with sexually transmitted diseases. Moreover, by the end of April, MSF-H would open a health centre in Bilolo, west of Walikale on the road to Kisangani, and in May another in Nyasi, east of Walikale on the road to Bukavu, he added. AVSI has been active in the Walikale area since the beginning of March, operating a food security project in the wake of initiatives undertaken by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in November 2003 following the inter-agencies assessment mission. The MSF-H and AVSI projects are financed by the European Commission Humanitarian Office, ECHO. The AVSI project was in two parts, Marino Contiero, the project coordinator for Goma, said. The first of these, being implemented in collaboration with MSF-H, is to distribute seeds and implements for market gardening. The first distribution of these items to 65 women took place on 6 April on the Goma-Kisangani road. The second, also being implemented in partnership with MSF-H, is to establish eight one-hectare community plots, which 3,000 to 4,000 widows and vulnerable women with malnourished children could cultivate. One plot is in Walikale town; five are on the road to Kisangani: in Boboro, Biobilo, Nji Mgala, Birwue and M’dofia; another is in Ngora on the road to Goma; and one is in Gnasi, on the Bukavu road, Contiero said. With UNICEF support, AVSI planned to distribute school materials - unobtainable locally - to teachers and pupils, Contiero said. The information officer at OCHA's Goma office, Lia Opris, said. The situation in the schools was such that sometimes 10 pupils shared one pen and three pupils shared one exercise book. Save the Children representative André Charlebois, who attended the coordination meeting in Walikale, said his organization had on 19 April started to analyse the impact of rehabilitating the Walikale-Kisangani road on the local population; and reviewed possible actions for the demobilisation of and reintegration of child soldiers into society. Rehabilitation of roads Walikale's isolation is the reason why its residents are classified as vulnerable; meaning, for example, they suffer food insecurity, lack health care and education, the ECHO representative, Pierre-Yves Scotto, said. The most serious problem affecting Walikale Territory was the lack of road access, NGOs said. Now, EuropeAid, the body managing the European development funds, has given €2 million (about US $2.5 million) to rehabilitate a road in Masisi, southwest of Walikale town. That road now links Saké, to the north of Lake Kivu, to Kashebere, some 50 km northwest of Masisi, said Emmanuel de Merode, the EU development programme coordinator for eastern DRC. The project was executed by German Agro Action (Deutsche Welthungerhilfe). A drive from Saké to Kashebere now takes three hours. EuropeAid has also granted €1.5 million ($1.79 million) for the rehabilitation of six schools, a health centre, and to buy implements to revive agriculture, de Merode said. In line with this realisation, road projects in the Walikale area to link Goma and/or Bukavu to Kisangani are being discussed between specialised NGOs and donors, especially the EU. EuropeAid hoped to sign contracts on these in the next two months, de Merode said. However, the German Agro Action projects chief in Goma, Patrick Evrad, said the Kashebere-Walikale road axis could be opened in six months but that this would provide for humanitarian access on four-wheel-drive vehicles. However, Evrad said, if two years was taken to build a stronger road, then it would be strong enough for use by 20-mt trucks.

Bridge in Walikale Territory

The reopening of the Kinsangani to Goma road would link the eastern and western parts of the country, Evrad said, and should have a significant and beneficial socioeconomic impact on the public. "The road is a way to revamp the economy and facilitate the return of IDPs [internally displaced persons]," Evrad said. He added that in Nyabyondo, 20 km northwest of Masisi, 12,000 people would be able to rebuild their normal lives. Humanitarian actors successfully drawn in Isolated from the world until recently, Walikale attracts all sorts of humanitarian actors. The OCHA humanitarian field unit, with the support of the local authorities, has been able to attract them and facilitate their work. In addition, during the coordination meeting, the governor, Eugene Serufuli renewed his commitment to facilitate humanitarian intervention. A global humanitarian action plan, produced by the territorial administrator, Eric Kisa Kalobera, has already been completed for those NGO's that wish to intervene in the health, food security provision and education sectors. The idea of placing temporary humanitarian field units in newly accessible zones could be the best response to the needs of targeted vulnerable populations, so long as donors support the initiative, Gitelman said. But much more needs to be done in the Walikale area. Meanwhile, bases set up by OCHA will facilitate broader humanitarian intervention by NGOs. Because of the success of this first field unit - which will be close in June - OCHA plans to deploy another to Lubero, North Kivu Province, early in July.