08.15.08 UNHCR News Stories Q&A: UN's top man in Congo sees silver lining amid humanitarian crisis

Excerpts from the interview:

What is the current situation in the DRC, and is it getting the attention it deserves?

Unfortunately
the humanitarian situation in DRC is still one of the worst in the
world, with 1,500 preventable deaths a day. An International Rescue
Committee (IRC) report says 45,000 people are dying every month here
largely from treatable causes, a total of 5.4 million dead over the
past decade. This death toll surpasses any conflict since World War II
and is equivalent to having the Indian Ocean tsunami every six months.
The monthly mortality rate is 40 percent higher than the average for
sub-Saharan Africa – one in five children dies before reaching the age
of five.

There
is some positive news. Fewer people are dying as a direct result of
conflict. The electoral process in 2006 was a major success and an
historic event for the DR Congo. By massively participating in the
different polls, the Congolese population demonstrated their desire for
peace and their commitment to democracy. The country now has an elected
Government which is responsible for the reconstruction of the country
and also deals with humanitarian issues. DRC is also finally attracting
more donor support, but the full needs of the DRC are still not
reflected. The international media gives wide coverage to an area of
serious concern to us, sexual and gender based violence. Unfortunately,
relatively little space is given to stories that document the
considerable progress the country is making.

What are the UN's main concerns in terms of humanitarian needs and reforms? Are these needs being met?

In
a country where so many things are broken, there are many priorities.
Some of the top priorities are the humanitarian situation, governance,
and security sector reform. Of great concern are the military elements
that are untrained, poorly equipped, often unpaid or poorly paid and
molesting the population rather than protect it. The challenge of
reforming and professionalizing the national army and dealing with a
plethora of militias is daunting. So too is establishing stability,
peace and increasing humanitarian access in the east. Successful army
reform is key to the country's future stability and sustainable
development.

Over
the last years the humanitarian community has responded positively to
reform and put in place new approaches. As a result more resources have
been made available to better meet needs. In the DRC there is a need to
put in place not only humanitarian programmes, but also reconstruction
and development programmes. More needs to be done in these sectors. The
death toll speaks for itself. There is a need for the UN, NGOs and the
Government to try to meet immediate needs. We can't reconstruct a
country on dead bodies.

The
2008 Humanitarian Action Plan Mid-Term-Review assessed an increase of
humanitarian needs from $575 million defined at the beginning of the
year to $749 million. This increase is amongst others a result of newly
emerging nutrition crises in several provinces, the steep rise of food
and fuel process, outbreaks of cholera and other epidemics and new
opportunities to address the problem of sexual violence. The 2008 HAP
focuses on five substantial areas – mortality, nutrition, protection,
assistance to internally displaced people (IDPs) and support of
returnees.

Has
the Goma peace conference paved the way for the return of the 350,000
Congolese refugees and over one million internally displaced?

A
number of recent agreements have been signed, such as the Goma Actes
D'Engagements and the Nairobi Communiqué. These are the results of
bringing key actors together to discuss solutions for the lingering
problems which are the root cause of conflicts in the east. A range of
national and foreign militias continue to fight in the Kivus, where we
have an IDP population of more than 1 million. Implementation of the
peace and stabilisation process is complicated and slow. Although some
progress has been made, the population in these areas, especially the
IDPs, have yet to see sufficient progress to allow them to return. For
this reason, the international community, in particular the UN, the US,
the EU and the African Union are helping national authorities to
address the obstacles to peace.

MONUC
has deployed over 90 percent of its 17,000 peacekeepers in the east.
They are working closely with the humanitarian community to protect the
population there. Re-establishing state authority and providing support
through the Humanitarian Action Plan for the return and reintegration
of IDPs are key elements towards the recovery and development of the
DRC.

Increased
stability, combined with other efforts, will allow IDPs and refugees to
return. Despite the fact that last year the number of IDPs increased,
progress has been made outside the Kivus – around one million IDPs have
returned in the Ituri region since 2004 and 5,000 refugees have gone
back home to Katanga this year alone.

What is UNHCR's role in the DRC?

Since
2004, UNHCR has repatriated more than 150,000 refugees across the
country. In the context of the Amani Programme, significant progress
has been made by UNHCR in organizing the Tripartite Working Group with
Rwanda, Uganda, with Burundi soon to join. Beyond the traditional role
dealing with refugees, UNHCR has played a major role leading the
protection cluster, which is a major priority for the UN family in the
DRC. UNHCR also manages 15 camps for IDPs in North Kivu. This requires
both attention at a high level and active work in key regions in the
east together with MONUC (UN Mission in the DRC), other UN agencies,
NGOs and the Government. UNHCR and UNDP jointly lead the return and
reintegration cluster with UNDP with the objective to facilitate the
reinsertion of those IDPs in their home communities.