More than 100,000 people are estimated by humanitarian organizations to have fled the violence since fighting involving Congolese government troops, the National Congress of the Defense of the People (CNDP) and other armed groups broke out again on 28 August last. Many residents of affected areas, such as the districts of Masisi and Rutshuru in North Kivu and Minova in South Kivu, have suffered abuse, including looting and rape, and sometimes other physical violence, at the hands of weapon bearers.

Infrastructure indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as the water supply networks in the cities of Sake, Ntamugenga and Rutshuru, have been seriously damaged in the fighting.

At present, residents of the areas affected by the hostilities in North Kivu are still fleeing towards safer areas such as North Rutshuru, South Lubero and the outskirts of Goma and Kitchanga. In South Kivu, displaced people are moving towards the district of Kalehe.

Poor security makes it particularly difficult to reach the victims. Nevertheless, the ICRC is pressing ahead with its aid activities in both North Kivu (except in much of the Masisi area) and South Kivu.

Emergency response in behalf of victims of the recent clashes

With the resumption of hostilities and in response to a number of allegations of abuses committed by weapon bearers, the ICRC issued an appeal to all belligerents to spare civilians and people wounded or captured during the fighting, in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Providing emergency medical care

• The ICRC is providing 17 health-care facilities in North and South Kivu with medicines and medical supplies. The facilities, which serve a population base of over 600,000, are situated in areas near the fighting or on roads used by displaced people.

• To help the wounded, a surgeon and a nurse are providing support for hospitals in North Kivu near the fighting.

• With ICRC support, the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has taken wounded people to medical facilities and recovered and buried mortal remains.

• In Kanyabayonga, in North Kivu, where many displaced people have sought refuge, the ICRC has installed two 5,000-litre tanks to supply water to over 10,000 people.

• In Sake, a city of 30,000 inhabitants in North Kivu, the water supply system which had been damaged in the recent fighting was repaired.

• Working together with the Congolese Red Cross, the ICRC has begun efforts to trace the relatives of six children separated from their families during the fighting.

• More than 1,000 messages containing family news have been distributed between family members made otherwise unreachable by the conflict.

• Despite poor security conditions, the ICRC has carried out with the help of the Congolese Red Cross the second round of a food distribution for 40,000 people in the Rutshuru district.

• The ICRC continues to record the testimony of victims of abuses committed by weapon bearers in order to make bilateral and confidential representations to the various entities on the ground in North and South Kivu.

• In North Kivu and Minova, the ICRC continues to support 18 shelters for victims of sexual violence (maisons d'écoute), to which increasing numbers of women are turning for help. If necessary, the victims are directed to health-care facilities for appropriate medical treatment.

• Finally, in the Beni area of North Kivu, and in South Kivu and other provinces, the ICRC is carrying on its other activities, including in particular its visits to places of detention.