Democratic Republic of Congo

Kinshasa, November 6, 2009 – Last month, seven vaccination sites operated by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) came under fire during attacks by the Congolese army against the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Thousands of civilians had gathered at the sites. MSF denounces this clearly unacceptable abuse of humanitarian aid for military purposes.

Half a year after Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) were forced to abandon its project in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) due to the security situation, it is still not safe to return. Meanwhile, infection levels of sleeping sickness, which was a main focus of MSF’s activities in the area, are on the rise and many vulnerable people are at risk to the fatal disease.

"Since we left, at least 1,000 people have died of sleeping sickness in the region. It is unacceptable. We cannot stand here with our arms crossed and let people die that way. As soon as the situation allows, MSF will go back."

A new treatment has potential to make a difference in the fight against sleeping sickness. The fatal parasitic disease, which has ravaged Africa for decades, is causing thousands of deaths each year and has been spreading from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with refugees and displaced, who are fleeing from conflict and do not have access to proper treatment.

Kinshasa, DRC, October 14, 2009 – One year after violence erupted in Haut-Uélé district, in northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), attacks and clashes have now expanded to new areas, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee. Humanitarian organizations have failed to meet the massive needs that have resulted and an urgent response with greater presence in the rural areas of Haut-Uélé and Bas-Uélé is imperative, said the international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

MSF is currently working in northeastern DRC, providing more than 9,000 medical consultations a month in hospitals and health centers. MSF has also distributed relief items to some 16,000 people displaced by violence, and provided vaccinations and mental health support. In total, 27 international staff work alongside 140 Congolese colleagues in MSF projects in Haut-Uélé and Bas-Uélé.

Since September 2008, LRA rebels from neighboring Uganda have committed acts of extreme violence against people in Haut-Uélé and Bas-Uélé provinces in northeastern DRC. In March, the situation deteriorated further when countries in the region launched a joint military offensive against the LRA.

"When we arrived, five armed men took us by surprise. They were accompanied by three hostages, including a woman who was translating what they were saying. They tied our hands and took us into the bush."

Intense conflict and violence continues to affect hundreds of thousands of civilians in the provinces of North and South Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The toll of sexual violence remains extremely high. During clashes and brutal attacks on villages, people are killed, raped, wounded, or forced to flee to the bush or to camps.

Attacks on villages by the Lord's Resistance Army have displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Many of the rebel group's victims have been abducted, raped or killed. Tens of thousands of survivors have taken refuge in Southern Sudan, including one 16-year-old boy.

Over the past weeks, civilians have continued to suffer from violent attacks in several areas of northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Southern Sudan. Ugandan rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have been perpetrating acts of extreme violence on the populations in both countries. This violence was further exacerbated by the operations conducted against the LRA by national armies in the region. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have been providing assistance to the displaced and resident populations by offering free health care and psychosocial support, and by improving living conditions.

Sandra was raped by thieves who came to steal her family's savings in Bunia, DRC. They beat her father, and threatened to burn down their home if she reported them.

Sandra had camped in the church for two nights, alone with no water or food, hiding from her attackers while she waited for us. The villagers had asked if she needed anything. She had told them, “No. I just want to be alone.” We treated her, diminishing her risk of catching HIV.

In the areas of Haut-Uélé and Bas-Uélé, in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ugandan rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have committed violent attacks in response to military operations launched by the armies of Uganda, DRC, and Southern Sudan.

In the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and in the south of neighboring Sudan, Ugandan rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have been perpetrating acts of extreme violence on civilians in response to operations conducted against them by national armies of the DRC, Uganda, and southern Sudan.

It was impossible to go to the fields because of fear of attack on the road. Every night, women and children would hide while the men tried to guard them, prepared for the worst.

All these people had fled their villages in a hurry, and it was difficult for them to get health care because they couldn’t pay for it. That’s why it was so important for us to provide free medical consultations in both locations.

People in the northern region of North Kivu province, in the east of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been fleeing violence since late January, when an offensive was launched by DRC's army against the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is providing medical care in several of the regions’ towns and villages, where the population includes nearly 230,000 displaced persons. 

Geneva, March 16, 2009 – Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) confirms that on Sunday, March 15, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) carried out attacks on Banda, a village in Haut Uélé, in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo. MSF has been providing treatment for patients with sleeping sickness for almost a year in Banda, a village 150km southwest of Doruma.

An 8-year-old girl is examined by medical staff in an MSF isolation center in Western Kasai Province, central Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). She was brought there by her father who suspected she was a victim of an Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreak in the area.

Some 900 people have been systematically murdered in a string of brutal attacks across northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since the end of 2008. The attacks were carried out in the country’s Haut Uélé Province by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group active in Uganda and Sudan for over two decades.

In the midst of the conflict in Kivu, MSF strives to provide medical care to victims of sexual violence. Rape is widespread, but access to patients is a challenge. With the help of a network of women working in villages, the word is spreading and more victims are seeking care. Yet, fighting, geographic isolation and the fear of disclosing the rape prevent many women from seeking care in Masisi, a district in North Kivu.

A landslide hit a displaced persons’ camp in Masisi town, North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on February 4, killing eight people. The majority of victims were young children; two were teenagers.

The event in question occurred on 24 December 2008, in a village in the area of Batande, seven kilometers north of Doruma, in the Haut-Uele. This testimony was collected in Doruma on 30 December.

Dungu/Kinshasa, DRC/Geneva/Nairobi, February 4, 2009 – As the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) continues to unleash violence against the people of Haut-Uélé in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the intensity of the targeted violence has prompted MSF to denounce MONUC—the United Nations peacekeeping force in eastern DRC—for its inaction in protecting the population. Tens of villages have been burned, hundreds of civilians have been stabbed or clubbed to death, and men, women, and children have been abducted.

Violent attacks in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have become increasingly frequent since late September 2008. Thought to have been carried out by Ugandan rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army, the assaults have killed hundreds of people and left thousands displaced.

Since October 2008, following the latest fighting between armed groups in North Kivu province, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have been assisting refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the Uganda border. At the Ishasha border crossing, the number of new arrivals has decreased significantly as the fighting in DRC eased.

All patients have been discharged from the MSF isolation center in Kampungu, Western Kasai province, in central Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where they were being monitored for Ebola hemorrhagic fever. The patients no longer presented symptoms and were in good overall health.

Civilians are fleeing to Uganda to escape the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Refugees in Matanda camp, which serves as a transitory camp, just over the border in Ishasha, say they are afraid to go back, fearing violence, massacres, and forced conscription into the military or armed groups. The little news they receive from relatives who remain there reinforces their belief that it is not safe to return.

More than three weeks after the Christmas attacks on the towns of Faradje and Doruma and three days after the invasion of Tora—all in the Haut Uélé district of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) combatants are continuing their devastating assaults against civilians, and moving closer to the Dungu area.

Some 46 patients in total have shown symptoms of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the province of Western Kasai, central Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Seven patients have tested positive for the Ebola virus after sample analysis in laboratories. Of the seven confirmed, one has died. The 39 remaining patients are still suspected cases, of which 13 have died.

As of January 7, a total of 42 patients have been reported with suspected Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the province of Western Kasai, central DRC. Thirteen of the 42 patients have died. The epicenter of the epidemic is believed to be Kaluamba village, in the center of the province.

Luis Encinas recently returned from Kasai Occidental province in central DRC, where he led the MSF team fighting an epidemic of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. A nurse by profession and the operations coordinator for this MSF project, Encinas spoke about the situation on the ground and how MSF has changed its way of responding to Ebola.

Following the attack of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) on the city of Faradje (Haut Uélé) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on December 25, an MSF team went there on December 28 to provide emergency medical assistance.

Since September 2007 renewed fighting in North Kivu has caused massive displacement in the region. A ceasefire agreement signed in January 2008 was not respected, and by the end of August large-scale fighting had broken out again in the region between various armed groups and the Congolese armed forces (FARDC), despite the presence of the world’s largest UN peacekeeping force, MONUC.

The number of people with suspected Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the Mweka district of Western Kasai Province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is now 38, including 12 who have died.

On the morning of December 28, a woman with symptoms of what could be Ebola hemorrhagic fever died in Western Kasai Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On December 25, a man with similar symptoms died. These two bring the total number of deaths to 11 in what are 35 suspected cases of Ebola in the area.

Blood samples from patients in the Western Kasai Province in central Democratic Republic of Congo that were sent to laboratories in Gabon have tested positive for Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Thirty -three people suspected of suffering from Ebola, including nine people who have died, have been reported since November 27. Additional blood and stool samples have been taken for testing.

Nine people have died since November 27 from a disease suspected to be deadly hemorrhagic fever in the Western Kasai province, central Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Massive forced civilian displacements, violence, and unmet medical needs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, and Pakistan, along with neglected medical emergencies in Myanmar and Zimbabwe, are some of the worst humanitarian and medical emergencies in the world, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported today in its annual list of the “Top Ten” humanitarian crises.

An update of each area where MSF is present in North and South Kivu provinces and across the border in Uganda.

There was no major fighting reported in North Kivu this past week, but sporadic skirmishes between armed groups continued to drive civilians out of their homes and into the forests for days or during the nights, where they hoped to avoid being harassed. The overall improved security for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical teams allowed staff to redeploy to areas where they had been running projects, and carry out evaluations and mobile medical clinics in the surrounding areas. In all MSF projects in North Kivu, cholera cases have been decreasing.

For the past several weeks Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have been assessing the refugee situation at the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, more than 27,000 people have crossed the border with Uganda since the end of August. Monique Doux, Field Coordinator in Matanda Refugee camp, close to the border town of Ishasha, talks about the situation there.

In the month of October, the MSF team in Mweso saw thousands of people fleeing along the road in front of the hospital. Fighting was raging in the areas to the north, right up to the edge of Mweso itself. In the operating room, the number of war-wounded patients increased dramatically.

For the past several weeks, MSF teams have been assessing the refugee situation at the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda. An 11-person team (three doctors, four nurses and three logisticians) are now working in three different sites to offer assistance to the refugees.

Recent fighting in the area of Kanyabayonga has forced hundreds of people to flee and hampered humanitarian efforts. Some of the displaced people who were hiding in the forest have now started to slowly return to town. "Despite the perception of a relative calm, violence is continuing in several areas of  North Kivu," says Gilduin Blanchard, MSF head of mission in Goma. "Thousands are currently on the run, forced to flee their homes again. This is happening right now, far from the media spotlight."

Today, an MSF international team is resuming its work in Kayna hospital, Lubero district, where security has been poor over the past week. Recent fighting in the area forced hundreds of people to flee and hampered humanitarian efforts. Most of the population of Kanyabayonga, further south, has left the town. MSF is extremely worried about the fate of thousands of people currently hiding in the bush in fear. The team’s top priority is to find them and provide them with urgent assistance.

New York, November 20, 2008 — The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today launched “Condition:Critical,” a multimedia initiative aiming to bring global attention to the humanitarian consequences of the intensifying war in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

MSF provides health care (medical consultations, hospitalizations, and surgery) in North Kivu province’s Rutshuru, Masisi, and Lubero districts. MSF works in Rutshuru hospital and supports Mweso, Masisi and Kitchanga hospitals as well as health centres in these districts, and also runs a network of mobile clinics.

Teams continue to work at a hospital and health centers in Rutshuru and Kiwanja, where the situation is now stable. Activities in the hospital are becoming routine; on average, ten surgeries are now performed per day. There are a number of requests from health centers to transfer patients from Kinyandoni and Kibututu to the hospital in Rutshuru. Among these patients, there are several children affected by severe or moderate malnutrition.

He and his ten-year-old brother were in the forest in the Nyanzale area when fighting broke out. "We were caught right in the middle of heavy gunfire. We were really scared and had nowhere to run. We were literally caught between two groups shooting at each other. "

MSF remains very concerned about the many people still fleeing the ongoing violence. Many displaced and local residents are in urgent need of food, clean water, healthcare, and basic items such as blankets and shelter materials.

MSF teams are continuing to work in Goma and in other towns and villages in the North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The organization remains very concerned about the many people still on the move after fleeing recent fighting. While some displaced people are returning to their places of origin around North Kivu, many of the displaced and local residents continue to be in urgent need of food, clean water, healthcare and basic items like blankets and shelter materials.

Since fighting broke out in and around the town of Kiwanja in the North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo on November 5th and 6th, MSF surgical teams have treated dozens of wounded people in the MSF-supported hospital in the neighboring town of Rutshuru. Half of the wounded are children. Thousands of people who have fled the fighting in Kiwanja have sought shelter on the road between the two towns, in churches, and even inside Rutshuru hospital.

Since fighting broke out in and around the town of Kiwanja on November 5th and 6th, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) surgical teams have treated more than 50 wounded people in the MSF-supported hospital in the neighboring town of Rutshuru. Thousands of people who have fled the fighting in Kiwanja have sought shelter on the road between the two towns, in churches, and even inside Rutshuru hospital. Thierry Allafort, Emergency Coordinator, describes the situation in Rutshuru.

Goma, DRC - November 6, 2008 – Relief convoys under armed escort by MONUC, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are creating confusion between independent humanitarian assistance and military action in the North Kivu region of the country. Keeping the two separate is crucial, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today.

Annie Desilets is the project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Kitchanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province. She’s with a team of more than 160 MSF staff working 85 km – or four hours by road – north of provincial capital, Goma. There are two camps in the Kitchanga area. One has an estimated 25,000 displaced people, while the other has 18,000. And the numbers are growing. The medical teams are concerned about an increase in upper respiratory infections and cholera cases

In displaced persons camps in Kibati, just north of Goma in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, scores of people are seeking refuge from recent fighting. Here are just a few of their stories.

MSF is continuing to work in Goma and in other towns and villages in the province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The organization remains very concerned about the tens of thousands of people still on the move who have fled the recent fighting. Without improvements in the security situation, people will be forced to continue running.

MSF is continuing to work in Goma and in other towns and villages in the province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The organization is extremely concerned about the tens of thousands of people currently on the move, fleeing fighting. The displaced people are in urgent need of clean water, basic items like blankets and shelter materials, and food.

The humanitarian situation in the Kivu region of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is continuing to deteriorate rapidly. Over the weekend, intense fighting erupted around the town of Rutshuru, some 70 kilometers from the provincial capital, Goma. On Sunday, MSF medical teams in Rutshuru treated 70 war wounded and have since been working around the clock.

Goma, DRC, October 6, 2008 – In the most volatile parts of North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), violence has reached its highest levels in years while assistance is hardly reaching those most in need

The MSF team working in Masisi hospital provided emergency surgery to 17 civilians and armed men injured in the crossfire. Despite the insecurity, MSF was able to keep the hospital running, including a nutritional center with 54 malnourished children.

MSF has been forced to evacuate teams from some areas and redeploy to other areas in North Kivu province as a result of heavy fighting that began on August 28. The people of North Kivu, already suffering from nearly constant violence, find themselves once again on the battlefield.

On Monday, September 1, a humanitarian flight crashed outside of Bukavu town, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  Among the 17 victims of the crash was Dr. Samuel Bamoueni, a member of MSF in DRC.

A humanitarian air service flight went missing during a storm on September 1 en route between Kisangani and Bukavu. As of midday, September 2, aerial surveillance indicated that there were no survivors of the crash.

Epidemics, rape, and constant movement to escape violence in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo, have taken their toll on the population. "These people are exhausted, increasingly weak, and consequently, increasingly ill," says an MSF coordinator in Masisi.

Both the displaced and the residents in North Kivu lack the most basic living standards, such as good hygiene conditions, clean water, food, and healthcare. As a result, there are disease outbreaks.

Since 1998, civilians in the DRC's North Kivu province have been caught in the middle of a battle for control between local and foreign militias, and the Congolese army. MSF teams have been on the forefront of trying to assist people trapped by the conflict.

At the general hospital in Matadi, the main town of Bas-Congo province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a medical team from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has provided care for 29 people wounded in the clashes between the police and members of Bundu Dia Kongo, a political-religious group contesting the state's authority.

Since December 2007, cholera outbreaks have affected thousands of people in the cities of Lubumbashi and Likasi in southern Katanga province, Democratic Republic of Congo. For the last three weeks, however, the number of new patients at MSF clinics in these areas have been decreasing.

Despite a ceasefire agreement signed in January by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and armed groups, insecurity persists in North Kivu province. The population is subject to violent attacks and must flee, often multiple times. Romain Gitenet, MSF head of mission in DRC, provides an update on MSF’s work there.

Cholera cases are still on the rise in Katanga province, in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Since late September, a total of 4,029 cases have been reported by MSF emergency teams in the cities of Lubumbashi and Likasi. At least 97 patients have died.

When fighting erupted between armed groups and government forces in the North Kivu province of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in August 2007, it forced an estimated 10,000 Congolese to flee for safety over the border into Uganda.  Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) helped set up a transit site in Nyakabanda, situated about 10 miles from the DRC border in Uganda’s Kisoro district. Nurse Laura Cobey arrived to be field coordinator for the MSF project in October, just as a renewed surge in fighting pushed another wave of Congolese to seek refuge in Nyakabanda. Cobey describes the quick opening of the site and conditions for the estimated 13,000 people who lived there until its December closing.

Brussels, January 29, 2008 — Since the beginning of January, MSF has recorded more than 1,700 people with cholera in the cities of Lubumbashi, Bukama, and Likasi. All these people came from the poorer areas where bad hygiene conditions combined with high population density contribute to the flaring up of this extremely contagious disease.

New York, December 20, 2007 — People struggling to survive violence, forced displacement, and disease in the Central African Republic (CAR), Somalia, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere often went underreported in the news this year and much of the past decade, according to the 10th annual list of the “Top Ten” Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories, released today by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Johannesburg/Brussels/Kinshasa, December 5th, 2007 – The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) denounces the pervasive and systematic use of rape and violence perpetrated by the Angolan army during the expulsions of Congolese migrants working in diamond mines in the Angolan province of Lunda Norte.

Since 1998, civilians in the North Kivu province of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have been caught in the middle of a battle for control between local and foreign militias, the Congolese army, and UN forces. In late 2007, new waves of fighting began more massive displacements of an already weakened population.

Clashes have forced tens of thousands to flee in search of safety, with many settling in the Rutshuru area. At the town hospital, MSF is handling a sharp increase in the number of patients.

Violence in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has intensified since August 2007, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and creating major obstacles for people to access health care. Jane Coyne, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) head of mission in DRC, provides an update of situation in North Kivu, and explains the toll that lack of basic health care is taking on the people of this region.

Over the past few months new waves of fighting in the North Kivu province of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have caused the massive displacement of an already weakened civilian population. While no precise number can be given, several hundreds of thousands of people are thought to have been displaced by the violence since the beginning of the year. Many are said to be living in the forest without adequate shelter, water, medical care or food and under the continuous threat of insecurity, too scared to travel to health clinics.

In the wake of a violent civil war, the district of Ituri in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has a population of 4.6 million, has and continues to be the scene of immense human suffering.

Kinshasa/Bunia/Geneva, October 24, 2007 — Despite an overall decrease in the intensity and recurrence of conflicts in the district of Ituri in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), civilian populations there are still subjected to high levels of violence. Based upon four years of medical work in the region, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has issued a report titled, "Ituri: Civilians Still the First Victims," emphasizing the persistence of sexual violence as well as the direct humanitarian consequences of military operations in 2007 during a "pacification process" in the region.

The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has seen a decrease in the number of admissions to its isolation unit in Kampungu, a village of 9,000 inhabitants which is the epicentre of the outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) team in Masisi in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province is comprised of 100 Congolese and 5 international staff, works in the 120-bed hospital and a health center. They offer surgical care to war-wounded, as well as general health care and nutritional support to displaced people and the local population. Anne Khoudiacoff, 29, is a Belgian nurse who arrived in DRC in early October. Here she describes her work.

Amsterdam/Paris, September 28, 2007 -North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo is an area of chronic violence, which can rise sharply in intensity. Due to the recent insecurity in North Kivu - fighting as well as looting and attacks on the roads - the assistance provided by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is seriously hampered, if not made impossible.

An outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever has been confirmed in West Kasai province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is reinforcing its emergency team already working on the ground. A team of specialists has been dispatched as well.

Violent clashes between government soldiers and rebel fighters broke out in North Kivu province, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on August 27. Fighting in Masisi and Rutshuru, in the south of the province, created even more displaced people—40,000, according to the United Nations—and affected Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) activities in six areas. People in this region are isolated and information about their health needs remains largely unknown.

MSF has been quick to respond to meningitis epidemics in several countries in Africa's "meningitis belt." In the four countries–Burkina Faso, Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC-where the epidemic threshold has been reached MSF's first response was to evaluate the outbreak, identify the strain of meningitis, and treat people infected with the disease.

In the coming days, a 52-person team will vaccinate everyone from 2 to 30 years of age in the Adi health zone, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Dr. Alena Koscalova has been one of the medical coordinators for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the DRC for more than two years. She is currently in charge of the meningitis vaccination campaign and answers our questions about the effort.

Since August 20, more than 650 cases of typhoid fever, including 90 cases of peritonitis and intestinal perforation and around 20 deaths, have been reported in Kikwit, Bandundu Province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A team from MSF is providing support to Kikwit's main hospital to ensure treatment of patients.

A rutted track winds through mountainous terrain of the far east of the vast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), snaking more than 750 miles and linking the towns of Goma and Kisangani. Today, even more than three years after the conclusion of the war, much of the road is impassable due to insecurity.

Bunia/New York, July 21, 2006 – Since July 14, an emergency team from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been working in the town of Gety, located south of Bunia, the capital of Ituri District in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to assist a population of 39,000 displaced people. Bringing aid to the displaced is particularly difficult as security conditions remain tenuous in the area and as the population has doubled during the past week, growing from 22,000 on July 14 to 39,000 today. However, assistance is crucial as the displaced families, exhausted by their journey, are gathered amidst dire sanitary conditions.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), rape forms part of the daily reality for women living in the North Kivu province, where violence has reigned for several years. In 2005, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams admitted 1,292 women who were victims of sexual violence and as many again in the first six months of 2006. These figures are extremely disturbing; however they only reflect a very small part of reality in this eastern region. Malika Saim, MSF desk manager for the DRC, outlines the response our teams are providing to the situation. response.

Bunia, DRC/New York, June 22, 2006 – Since June 2, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical teams have been monitoring and treating victims of a pneumonic plague outbreak in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In the past week, MSF has conducted nutritional surveys in three camps for displaced Congolese around the town of Dubie, near Lake Mweru, in Katanga province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The results are staggering, with the prevalence of global malnutrition at 19.2 percent and of severe acute malnutrition at 5 percent.

Kinshasa/Brussels, March 13, 2006 - The international humanitarian aid organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is launching a massive measles vaccination campaign in Mbuji Mayi (Kasai Oriental province), the second largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In only a few weeks, MSF teams will vaccinate an estimated 550,000 children under the age of 5.

Over the last twelve months, more than 100,000 people have been displaced from their homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga province as a result of fighting between the Congolese army, known as the FARDC, and the so-called Mai-Mai militia.

Since combat began on January 20 in the territory of Rutshuru in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) tens of thousands of people have fled fighting and violence. Most of them have come from the Kibirizi area, northwest of Rutshuru, where people have been beaten, raped, and robbed.

"The only thing separating the displaced people from life-threatening dehydration was a three-and-half inch diameter, exposed pipe that was snaking through the jungle to the town." says Barry Gutwein, a water-and-sanitation engineer from Indiana, who was dispatched to Dubie, a town in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga Province.

Ngombe Kangula is chief of Kitondwa, a village in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo's vast and mineral rich Katanga province. Today, he is slumped under a tree in the corner of Camp II, one of the three displacement camps that MSF has constructed around the small town of Dubie, situated in the north east of the province.

Despite a heavy deployment of a UN peacekeeping contingents in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province, insecurity and violence have set the whole region ablaze. In just over one month, heavy fighting in the Rutshuru and Beni regions have lead to more than 80,000 people being displaced either within North Kivu or across the border as refugees in Uganda.

Some 35,000 people have sought refuge on the banks of lake Upemba in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), fleeing attacks on their villages and military operations in central Katanga province. Meanwhile, on January 6 an outbreak of cholera 30 miles north of lake Upemba, lead to 340 people being admitted for treatment in 10 days, including 14 deaths.

Kinshasa, 2 December 2005 - A camp for displaced people, Mazwombe, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was attacked yesterday morning. Some 3,000 people who were living in the camp, seven kilometers from Mitwaba in the province of Katanga, once again were forced to flee for their lives.

As long as the region of North Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to be a land coveted by many, death and physical abuse will remain the everyday lot of the civilian population. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has decided to extend its activities by initiating projects in Kayna and Rutshuru, two villages recently exposed to violent clashes. Denis Lemasson, MSF's assistant program head for the DRC, gives this account.

Geneva, June 11, 2005 - The two members of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)-Switzerland who were abducted north of Bunia in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on June 2 have been freed by their abductors this morning. They are in good health and have been safely reunited with the MSF team in Bunia.

Geneva/New York, June 4, 2005 - The two Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff abducted on June 2 near Jina in Ituri District, north of Bunia, have still not been freed by their abductors.

Erika Seid, an American psychotherapist, spent ten months (March 2004 to January 2005) working with MSF to establish mental health services clinic in Kinkala, a town of six to ten thousand people, in the Pool region of the Republic of Congo.

Geneva, 5 March, 2005 - Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has resumed relief activities in the camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that MSF left 8 days ago due to increasing insecurity conditions.

Mary Ann Hopkins, MD, a surgeon at New York University Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital, recently returned from Bunia. At the 150-bed Bon Marché Hospital, Dr. Hopkins operated on people, including children, with gunshot, machete, and burn wounds as well as victims of sexual violence, who have been directly targeted by warring factions in Ituri.

Geneva, 25 February 2005 - Ongoing insecurity on roads and around main concentrations of displaced populations remain the main obstacle to the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Ituri district in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On February 24, 2005, almost two weeks after it started delivering aid to affected people in the region, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has had to temporarily suspend its activities in Iga-Barrière and Tché due to intense movements of armed groups in the conflict-affected area.

February 22, 2005, Kisangani – Two Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have been dispatched to the area around Buta in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in response to an outbreak of pulmonary plague. An exploratory mission carried out between February 14 and 16 found 93 cases of the lethal disease in the Dingila health zone, which includes Zonia, Kana, and Mambenge.

New York, 10 February 2005 - Since the end of January 2005, fighting between rebels groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Djugu region in the eastern Ituri province has displaced thousands of Congolese. A number of people have seen their homes destroyed, and sought refuge in the neighboring villages of Tche, north of Bunia, and Kawa, on the banks of Lake Albert.

Kinshasa/New York, 17 December 2004: The entire population of Kanyabayonga has fled fighting in the North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as of Wednesday, December 15, 2004, with most of the nearly 35,000 people going towards Kayna and Kirumba dozens of miles to the north. The increased fighting has also forced a team from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to evacuate Kayna, where the group had been running a medical-nutritional program since January 2004. Since Sunday, the team had also set up emergency assistance (medical consultations and distribution of emergency items) to those fleeing Kanyabayonga.

Emergency teams from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) have started assisting 9,000 displaced people in Katanga Province's Mitwaba region in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Over the past 18 months, MSF has vaccinated more than 500,000 children in a continuing campaign against measles in some of the most inaccessible areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). MSF nurse Jessica Nestrell is coordinating the vaccination campaign.

All year long the four Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) Congo Emergency Teams cover emergencies non-stop. Known by their French acronym, PUC (Pool d'Urgences au Congo).

In August, MSF began the sixth phase of a preventative measles vaccination campaign in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which will take the total number of immunizations to nearly 500,000.

Up to 160 people were killed and 106 wounded Friday, August 13, 2004, when a military group attacked a refugee camp in Gatumba, Burundi, near the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Kinshasa/New York, April 21, 2004 - A Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) team has received new reports of horrifying abuse suffered by Congolese diamond miners forcibly driven across the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from their homes in mining areas in Angola. This information confirms earlier accounts pointing to widespread violence perpetrated against mine workers.

Kinshasa, 16 April 2004 - A Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) team has once again been dispatched to the southwestern provinces of Bandundu and Western Kasai in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to bring medical aid to thousands of Congolese diamond workers expelled in deplorable condition from Angola.

Kinshasa/Nairobi/New York, April 6, 2004 - The international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today expressed its serious concern about continued sexual violence against women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a phenomenon that is being perpetuated by ongoing insecurity. One year after a peace agreement was signed to put an end to the war in DRC, MSF continues to see victims of rape in its clinics.

Kinshasa/New York, March 4, 2004 - After being blocked for ten days, teams from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have finally been able to assess areas outside of Kitenge, in the Katanga Province of southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and begin providing assistance to 9,000 people.

The following stories were told to MSF by people living in Bunia, the city in the Ituri Province of Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that was the epicenter of brutal violence this past May.