Displaced people “dying in forests”

More than half of the people returning to Brazzaville from the Pool region suffer from acute malnutrition, raising serious concerns about the situation of displaced people still in Pool, ACF said last week. In a statement received by IRIN on Monday, ACF said people in the region were “dying of hunger in the forest, but hesitate to come out for fear of violence.” Many displaced people were reportedly victims of looting, rape and extortion by militia, ACF said, adding that the Pool area remained inaccessible to humanitarian agencies. Some 15,000 people have so far returned to Brazzaville from Pool. In view of the situation, ACF estimates that more than 100,000 people in the area were now at risk of dying, the statement said. The NGO has recently opened a therapeutic feeding centre in the Bacongo area of southern Brazzaville to assist severely malnourished people.