Death stalks DRC camp
2006-08-09 00:10
Kinshasa - At least 10 people died every day from cholera and malnutrition
in a camp for displaced people in Ituri in northeastern Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), a United Nations representative said on
Tuesday.
"These deaths, for the most part children, are recorded every
day in Gety," a camp about 40km south of Bunia
to where more than 40 000 people have fled over the last month to
escape fighting, Modibo Traore said.
Traore, a local representative for the UN cooordination of
humanitarian affairs, declined to say how many people had died in
total.
Bunia is the capital of Ituri, a mineral-rich province where
fighting between the army and various rebel factions has claimed
more than 60 000 lives and displaced 600 000 since 1999, despite
the presence of UN peacekeepers.
"The situation is constant and nutritional centres have been set
up," Traore told AFP by telephone from Bunia, adding that measures
had been taken to halt the spread of a cholera epidemic, including
the construction of more toilets.
Traore said the displaced were forced to remain confined to Gety
due to instability in the region, creating an enormous need for
water and food in the camp.
The World Food Programme (WFP) distributed 50 000 tons of food
to vulnerable people over a two-week period at the end of last
month, but the other displaced had not received anything since end
July, Traore said.
Inhabitants of the area could not tend their fields as the DRC
army had placed restrictions on the movement of people due to
ongoing violence, thereby aggravating the food crisis, he added.
The WFP's deputy representative in the DRC, Claude Jibidar,
described the humanitarian situation in Gety as "worrying" and said
food distribution for the displaced would continue.
- SAPA