ICRC Activities in Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo: 1994 - 3 February 1999 (International Committee of the Red Cross , 124 p.): Zaire: new humanitarian emergency in North Kivu

ICRC Activities in Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo: 1994 - 3 February 1999 (International Committee of the Red Cross , 124 p.)

		(introduction...)
		Zaire
		Zaire/Rwanda/Burundi: ICRC voices acute anxiety
		Zaïre: Masisi - a forgotten conflict
		Zaire: ICRC resumes activities in Masisi
		Zaire, (delegation also covers the Congo)
		Zaire: tragic plane crash in Kinshasa
		Rwanda/Zaire: “ICRC transit service”
		Zaire: new humanitarian emergency in North Kivu
		Update No. 96/1 on ICRC activities in Rwanda
		South Kivu: ICRC calls for restraint
		Update No. 96/1 on ICRC activities in Zaire
		Kivu: a major human tragedy in the making
		Tribute to Zairian Red Cross volunteers
		Great Lakes Region: assistance in Goma
		Breaking the humanitarian deadlock in Kivu
		Update No. 96/2 on ICRC activities in Zaire
		Update No. 96/3 on ICRC activities in Zaire
		Great Lakes: ICRC ready to act
		Update No. 96/4 on ICRC activities in Zaire
		Great Lakes: volunteers in action
		Zaire: ICRC operation gets under way
		Update No. 96/5 on ICRC activities in Zaire
		Update No. 96/6 on ICRC activities in Zaire
		Update No. 96/7 on ICRC activities in Zaire
		Great lakes: displaced: a zairian’s firsthand account “I had to cover 220 miles on foot”
		Update No. 96/8 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian crisis
		Update No. 9 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian crisis
		Rwanda: 1,000 children already reunited with their families
		Update No. 10 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian crisis
		Update No. 11 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian crisis
		Update No. 12 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian crisis
		Update No. 13 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian crisis
		Update No. 14 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian crisis
		Update No. 15 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian crisis
		Zaire: ICRC still only organization working in Shabunda
		Update No. 16 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian crisis
		Zaire, (delegation also covers the Congo)
		Update No. 1 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian crisis
		Rwanda: refugees return to Kamembe
		Rwanda: nearly 8,000 children reunited with their families
		Update No. 97/02 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian crisis
		Update No. 97/03 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian conflict
		Update No. 97/04 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian conflict
		Zaire: back in Kisangani
		Zaire: ICRC demands access to conflict victims
		Zaire: airlift for displaced Zairians
		Zaire: Lives of thousands of refugees at stave
		Zaire: More than 2,000 Zairians back home
		Update No. 97/6 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian conflict
		Zaire
		Zaire: Ten volunteers of the Zairian Red Cross killed in Kenge
		Update No. 97/8 on ICRC activities related to the Zairian conflict
		Zaire: More work for the tracing agency
		Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire): After the storm
		Update No. 9 on ICRC activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) and neighbouring countries
		Rwanda: Do you know this child?
		Democratic Republic of Congo: Homeward bound
		Update No. 97/10 on ICRC activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire)
		Brazzaville and Kinshasa: Medical aid on both sides of the river Congo
		Update No. 2 on ICRC activities in Congo-Brazzaville
		Brazzaville/Kinshasa: Relief work progressing
		Democratic Republic of the Congo: Priority in Kivu given to clean water and medical care
		Democratic Republic of the Congo: Displaced people go home on barges
		Democratic Republic of the Congo
		ICRC denounces killing of employee in Kinshasa
		The ICRC condemns and deplores two serious security incidents
		Democratic Republic of the Congo: ICRC opens office in Bunia
		Democratic Republic of the Congo: Health programme in Oriental province
		Democratic Republic of the Congo: inauguration of limb-fitting workshop in Kinshasa
		Democratic Republic of the Congo: ICRC appeals for compliance with humanitarian rules
		Democratic Republic of the Congo: First visits to detainees and water for population
		Democratic Republic of the Congo: Water and war
		Democratic Republic of the Congo: ICRC gains access to further place of detention in Kinshasa
		Democratic Republic of the Congo: Visits to detainees and family news
		Democratic Republic of the Congo
		Central African Republic: Congolese civilians arrive in Bangui
		Democratic Republic of the Congo: ICRC opens an office in Kalemie

Zaire: new humanitarian emergency in North Kivu

8 May 1996
ICRC News 96/18

The ICRC has supplied emergency aid for 14,000 newly displaced people in the Rutshuru area, east of Masisi (Zaire). More than 50,000 displaced people had already arrived recently in the area, where conflict has flared between Zairian tribes and people of Rwandan origin who have lived there for many years.

The aid, consisting of jerrycans, soap and blankets, is intended to supplement the efforts of local families to help the displaced people settle temporarily in villages. However, the distribution of relief is hampered by the prevailing climate of fear and instability: the displaced people do not dare stay long in one place and it is therefore difficult to keep track of them and to estimate their numbers.

The fighting, which had been limited to the Masisi region, spread to neighbouring Rutshuru in late March, causing more than 65,000 people to be displaced in four weeks. Balthazar Staehelin, head of the ICRC’s sub-delegation in Goma, said: “We are particularly concerned about the recent developments as they show that ethnic hatred has now taken hold of a region so far spared by it. As a result, tens of thousands of people have been displaced. What is striking is that these people are not fleeing because of the fighting itself, but out of sheer terror...”.

The ICRC is ready to provide protection and assistance for the victims of this situation. However, it is first and foremost up to the authorities to take every necessary measure to protect them.