Displaced in northern Brazzaville

There are now some 29,969 displaced persons staying at 18 sites in northern Brazzaville, according to figures provided by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The figure includes 15,341 vulnerable people, such as children under five years of age, pregnant women and the elderly, who are receiving WFP food rations. A recent nutrition survey revealed that there was currently no severe malnutrition problem among the displaced in the sites, it said. The ICRC has increased the water-distribution capacity to at least seven liters per person per day, IFRC said, adding that about 40 diarrhoea cases are now being reported per week at most sites. These displaced are among some 200,000 residents of southern Brazzaville who fled their homes in December 1998 as a result of fighting between government forces and Ninja militia allied to former prime minister Bernard Kolelas. Thousands of displaced persons are staying with friends or relatives in northern Brazzaville. But humanitarian sources told IRIN that the difficult economic situation faced by the city’s general population may soon lead to an increase in the number of people in the displaced sites, which are located mainly on the grounds of city churches. “Those displaced now staying with families may have to join the people in the sites because their hosts don’t have enough money or food to share with them,” one source told IRIN.