IRIN Web Special on Ituri in Eastern DRC

Civilians bear the brunt

The DRC is one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, and Ituri, according to a senior NGO official, is the area of "most extreme need" in the DRC. The people of Ituri are subject to extreme harassment from all sides, facing killings, mutilation, rape, plunder and arson. Roads are insecure, and movement can only take place with armed convoys. The results are massive and repeated displacement, poor food security and disease outbreaks. Conflict has damaged social infrastructure such as clinics, schools and hospitals. The widespread destruction of property has left many without a home to go back to. Some internally displaced persons (IDPs) are so desperate that they even lack clothing. Many families have been forced to move several times, each successive displacement increasing the level of vulnerability.

Estimates from the humanitarian community indicate that 500,000 people have been displaced by conflict in Ituri - 100,000 or more in and around the city of Bunia alone, with the second largest group to the south of the regional capital. Urban centres in North Kivu are swelled by IDPs. The western forest area of Nyoka also holds thousands, aid agencies say, while more IDPs have fled to the north, towards Mahagi and beyond. Refugees from Ituri have crossed the border into Uganda, arriving at the border areas of Mahagi, Aru, Nebbi and Bundibugyo, both to the north and south of Lake Albert. Their numbers are unclear, but are estimated to be between 10,000 and 30,000.

Child soldiers are a prominent feature of the military landscape, with active recruitment continuing, especially among IDPs, and in instances where children have become separated from their families. "I've never seen so many child soldiers," one UN official told IRIN following a visit to Bunia. "There were kids aged seven or eight guarding the presidency." UN sources suggest about 50 percent of armed forces members in the region may be under 18.

A recent UN assessment mission to Bunia found that malnutrition in the city was not serious, but was likely to increase due to an inability to cultivate, loss of livestock, and escalating food prices. One member of the mission observed that people were harvesting their crops before maturity so that they would not be stolen. "The situation could be far worse outside Bunia, but this is unknown," the mission participant told IRIN.

Lack of humanitarian access, security and reliable information

Despite dogged efforts, the impact of the humanitarian community in meeting the needs of Ituri has been very limited since August 2002. Poor security, difficulties in delivering cargo by air to Bunia, and the harassment of aid agencies has left Ituri with the services of a handful of international NGOs, which are largely confined to base. The UPC expelled the only UN aid official permanently based in Bunia in November. Local NGOs, churches and missions have carried a large proportion of the burden of supporting the needy in the region.

"Humanitarian agencies in Ituri, more or less confined to their bases in Bunia and Mahagi, are at present almost entirely unable to assist these [conflict-affected] people, or even to assess their condition," an observer said. Locally recruited staff of NGOs have to be cautious in their movements as there are no-go areas even within Bunia for people of certain ethnic groups. A collective of Ituri NGOs in a recent report said "psychosis and paranoia" prevailed in the region.

"The population is either misinformed or under-informed, which has led to the intoxication of people with false information aimed at pitting certain communities against others," said the local NGO collective. "Moderate leaders have been sidelined on both sides [and] there are not many ways to communicate with the people," a humanitarian official told IRIN.

The UPC has for several months denied humanitarian agencies permission to land air cargo freely in Bunia, although relief supplies could be delivered by air from Beni or Uganda. Air cargo is seen as a revenue opportunity, and the UPC has tried to impose the exclusive use of its own airline, Mbao Pax, for the transport of humanitarian relief. Reaching displaced people in Ituri by road from Beni is frequently impossible or impracticable due to insecurity and poor roads. A weekly passenger service to Bunia is operated by the EC's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), which continues to be the primary donor for humanitarian relief efforts in Ituri.

Humanitarians targeted

Ituri was "one of the worst areas in the world to work in", a senior humanitarian official told IRIN. Humanitarian workers have been targeted directly and are routinely accused of bias. Supplies and equipment are confiscated or commandeered. Any progress in improving understanding between aid agencies and local authorities, and the promotion of humanitarian principles is further complicated by the regular changes of personnel and factional fragmentation. "The players change all the time," an aid official pointed out. "It's incredibly complicated and dangerous." In the worst single incident in the region, six ICRC personnel were ambushed and murdered on the road from Fataki to Djugu in April 2001.

During a recent UN and donor mission led by Namanga Ngongi, the UN secretary-general's special representative in the DRC, Lubanga gave his assurances that humanitarian actors would be allowed to continue their work in full security in territory controlled by his rebel UPC. Lubanga had been singled out by the UN Security Council in demands for respect for humanitarian intervention. NGO personnel had recently been temporarily detained and an official of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expelled. However, in a less positive development, once the joint mission departed, forces of the UPC confiscated communication equipment belonging to international NGOs in another round of harassment.

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