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Gallery|Poverty and Development

Displaced and desperate: IDPs flee violence in DRC

Half a million people have been displaced in Tanganyika, in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
Two children walk back to their shelter while night breaks at Kalenge refugee camp, in Tanganyika province. Recent violence in Tanganyika has displaced thousands of people who are now living in and around the city of Kalemie. Among them are many children who became separated from their parents as they fled. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
By Lena Mucha
Published On 27 Aug 2017

Tanganyika, DRC – The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has one of the highest numbers of internally displaced people worldwide. According to the United Nations, nearly half a million people were displaced in the southeastern province of Tanganyika between July 2016 and March 2017. Villagers fled their homes there to escape intercommunal fighting between Twa pygmies and Luba, a Bantu-speaking ethnic group.

Around 250,000 internally displaced people are now living in refugee settlements in and around the city of Kalemie, the capital of Tanganyika province. The majority of them have limited access to healthcare, and face extreme shortages of food, water and shelter. The mortality rate for children under five is equivalent to that expected during the acute phase of an emergency.

But people here have been living in these conditions for months.

“They have survived several attacks and have been forced to abandon their previous shelters. Each time, they lose some possessions and many have nothing left,” explains Stephane Reynier de Montlaux, an emergency coordinator with Doctors Without Borders (known by its French initials, MSF).

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With the rainy season fast approaching and people living in overcrowded conditions without access to sufficient clean water, a cholera epidemic is feared.

An outbreak of violence around Kalemie during the past two months has left even more people displaced, while fires have destroyed several refugee camps. 

On August 4, around 50 people were killed in clashes between the Twa and Luba near Kalemie. UN officials say they are concerned that the violence is escalating.

The roots of this violence can be found in past conflicts between the two ethnic groups, but with the arrival of Mai Mai armed groups from the restive North and South Kivus and the involvement of other local armed groups, the panorama of this conflict is growing more complex. 

Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
Kalenge refugee camp in Tanganyika. In this overcrowded camp, displaced people live in shelters made of straw. This, coupled with inadequate site management, has resulted in fires breaking out and spreading rapidly. On August 9, a fire in Kakinga destroyed half of the camp. One child died as residents tried to escape. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
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Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
Pungu Asani, 55, lives with his wife and their 14 children in Kalonda refugee camp. They were displaced from their home village of Kibige in Tanganyika province. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
Children in the Circle Filtsaf primary school in Kalemie. Many of the children suffer from Malaria and malnutrition. The IDPs who are staying here were displaced from Tabacongo at the beginning of May. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
Bantu refugees settle around the chiefs house in Kalunga village, where they arrived at the beginning of May. Attacks by Twa groups forced them to flee their home villages, leaving almost all of their belongings behind. 'We recently tried to go back to our village, but the Twa were still in our houses. It was too dangerous and we had to leave again,' one woman explained. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
A Bantu woman and child in one of the rooms of the Circle Filtsaf primary school in Kalemie, where they found shelter after escaping the violence in their home village of Tabacongo. They arrived here at the beginning of May and are waiting to be relocated. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
Displaced people and children at the Circle Filtsaf primary school in Kalemie. The authorities want the refugees living in and around the school buildings to be relocated before classes resume so their future remains uncertain. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
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MSF staff conduct tests for malaria at a mobile clinic in Kalunga refugee camp. Seventy to 80 percent of the population here is infected with malaria. MSF has been running mobile clinics since April. Teams are providing medical assistance at 17 unofficial sites that host approximately 210,000 IDPs. There have been 16,410 consultations in the past three months, the majority for malaria, malnutrition and measles in children under five. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
IDPs have settled around Circle Filtsaf primary school in Kalemie. They don't receive any medical assistance, water or food supplies. In order to prevent epidemics, the displaced people would need to receive 20 litres of water a person a day. In order to achieve this, four million litres of water would have to be distributed daily. 'This is just under what we have managed to distribute in one month,' explained Ivan Quentin, an emergency logistics coordinator for MSF. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
An MSF worker tends to a new born baby at Circle Filtsaf primary school in Kalemie. The mortality rate for children under the age of five is the same as that expected during the acute phase of an emergency. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
'Our children and old people are dying. We need the government to take action so that we can go back to our villages,' said Kisompo Selemani, a 64-year-old Twa chief. He has been living in Kilunga refugee camp with his wife and four children since November 2016. They were displaced after their village was attacked by another Twa group. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
A young girl stands in front of the shelters at Kalenge refugee camp. Children are among the most affected by malnutrition, malaria and measles. There are no schools or activities for the children in the camps. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
A woman and her children sell items like cigarettes, torches and yuca (cassava tubers) in their small shop at Kilunga refugee camp. Many of the refugees only can afford to have one meal a day made out of Yuca flour and cassava leaves. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
Children play football at Mukuku refugee camp while women carry water to their shelters. Even though access to healthcare is being improved, there is still a shortage of clean water and consequently a risk of waterborne diseases and epidemics. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]
Alarming crisis in the eastern DRC/Please Do Not Use
Mukuku refugee camp is located close to Kalemie. The security situation in the area is unpredictable and people continue to flee violence and gather in and around Kalemie for safety. In order to earn some money, people try to find work in nearby villages, helping out in the fields or gathering firewood. [Lena Mucha/Al Jazeera]