UNHCR moves displaced to new camp in North Kivu

GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, October 19 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency has begun moving thousands of people displaced by fighting in Democratic Republic of the Congo's North Kivu province from makeshift settlements to a new camp with essential basic facilities.

A first group of 500 people moved on Thursday from Ndosho - a settlement of some 1,000 people with no drinking water or basic sanitation - to the new camp at Buhimba, six kilometres west of Goma, the main town in the area.

"This is a great day both for the Ndosho IDPs [internally displaced people] and for us," said Nicolay Colombe, UNHCR acting head of office in Goma. "The transfer of IDPs from makeshift camps to organized sites and the improvement of living conditions in existing sites, which are breeding grounds for many diseases, remains an imperative for us."

Establishment of the 28-hectare site at Buhimba is expected to help decongest several makeshift sites, including Ndosho and Lac Vert in the Mugunga area, and ensure basic facilities.

UNHCR expects to complete the transfers from Ndosho, where many people had been living for a month, to Buhimba by Friday and then start transferring more than 7,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) from Lac Vert to the new camp.

Buhimba is the second camp developed by UNHCR for IDPs in the Mugunga area and it can accommodate more than 10,000 people. Bulengo, the first camp, reached its capacity of 10,000 IDPs at the end of September.

Displaced people are continuing to arrive at sites around Goma. In the last 10 days more than 500 families have reportedly arrived in the Mugunga area. This is just a small part of the overall displacement in North Kivu.

Aid agencies estimate more than 370,000 IDPs have been displaced in North Kivu since December 2006. In the Mugunga area alone, the total number of IDPs has now surpassed the 80,000 mark.

UNHCR fears that many IDPs remain in areas inaccessible to humanitarian agencies as people continue to flee insecurity and fighting between the government forces, renegade troops and rebels in many parts of North Kivu. The agency is working closely with the authorities to identify additional sites.