This document provides a mid-month update. It complements UNHCR’s more detailed Operational Updates for DRC, which cover the full month.
Refugees
An increasing number of Central African refugees are voicing their intention of returning to their country of origin, primarily to Bangui. 876 households (3,707 people) have so far indicated this intention in Boyabu, Inke and Mole camps (Nord and Sub-Ubangi provinces). UNHCR continues to collect intentions of return.
147 Burundian asylum-seekers staying in Sange assembly point were transferred to Kavimvira transit center (TC) due to the increasingly unstable security situation in the nearby Ruzizi plains. As of 15 November, 205 Burundian asylum-seekers were in Kavimvira TC and 147 in Monge Monge TC.
In November, UNHCR started providing essential medicines and basic equipment to 8 health centers in NordUbangi and Bas-Uélé provinces, in zones that have been hosting out-of-camp Central African refugees since May 2017. The intervention, initially planned to last 3 months, will continue in 2019.
178 out of 240 planned transitional shelters were built for Central African refugees in the four camps in Nord and Sud-Ubangi provinces. They are intended for vulnerable households, and are built by refugee and local craftsmen under guidance from UNHCR's partner African Initiatives for Relief and Development (AIRD).
Poor road conditions, compounded by heavy rains, have limited humanitarian access to South Sudanese refugees in all settlements and border areas in northeastern DRC. Additional funding is needed to support the government in improving roads to ensure refugees receive assistance.
Following a security incident at Meri settlement, Haut-Uele Province, which hosts South Sudanese refugees, authorities have temporarily ceased cash-for-food distributions, usually done by WFP. While discussions on the approach to resolve this issue were ongoing, this illustrates the importance of further strengthening refugees’ self-reliance, in line with UNHCR’s strategic priorities.
Congolese returnees
- Amidst the expulsion of Congolese citizens from Angola, UNHCR trained 164 individuals on human rights and tools to prevent abuses and promote peaceful coexistence. Participants included local authorities, the military, health and humanitarian staff, and civil society members in Kamonia and Kamako, Kasai Province.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
2,000 internally displaced, returnee and host community households in Kamako, Kasai Province, received non-food items (NFIs) distributed by UNHCR’s implementing partner War Child. The distribution also benefitted those recently expelled from Angola. Another 1,800 households in Kasai and Kasai Central provinces received US$100 multi-purpose cash grants.
Security deteriorated in Beni, Masisi and Rutshuru territories in North-Kivu Province, with ongoing clashes and the displacement of a recorded 574 households in Beni Territory.
Consequently, sexual and gender-based violence remained a problem; 65 rapes were recorded by UNHCR’s partner INTERSOS in Rutshuru and Beni territories, and there was an increase in the use of survival sex by young girls in Beni to support their families, as reported by UNHCR’s protection monitoring.
UNHCR’s CERF-funded shelter project is making progress; 365 families have now moved into their shelters in Masisi Territory, and another 326 beneficiary families were identified in Beni Territory.