Uganda: Assisting Refugees Escaping Fighting in Eastern Congo

For the past several weeks Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) teams have been assessing the refugee situation at the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda. An 11-person team (3 doctors, 4 nurses and 3 logisticians) is now working in 3 different sites to offer assistance to the refugees.

In Ishasha, the main entry point from DRC, an MSF team has started medical consultations, organized water supplies, and improved sanitation conditions when a first wave of 2,000 refugees arrived. Since Thursday of last week, the MSF team was confronted with a new influx of an estimated 10,000 refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been organizing the transfer of refugees to Nakivale transit camps, located 350 kilometers to the east since people began crossing the border in late August.

Now transfers have stopped due to the risk of epidemics and people are now settling in Matanda camp, 28 km away from Ishasha. There are now 8,000 people seeking shelter there. MSF team is distributing 120 cubic meters of water per day and doing medical consultations. The team is organizing an immunization campaign against measles and polio for the children in the district.

In Kisoro, 70 kilometers to the south of Ishasha, MSF has been assessing the situation of refugees on the border for the past few weeks. With several aid agencies present and fewer refugees crossing into the area, the humanitarian needs are being met. MSF team will start medical consultations next week at the Nyakabande site. MSF will provide logistical support to health centers for immunization.

In Kabahanda/Niakivale transit camps, 350 kilometers to the east of Ishasha, 9,720 refugees have been transferred from the border by the UNHCR since August, when the fighting intensified between the main rebel movement and the Congolese army in DRC’s North Kivu province. MSF first started organizing medical consultations and have recently treated 53 cholera cases. A 24-bed cholera treatment center has been established. MSF is supplying 130 cubic meters of water per day and the team is cleaning and chlorinating the camp latrines. At the same time, the MSF team is carrying out community awareness activities about the importance of hygiene practices to contains the cholera outbreak. MSF has started building a health center.

According to the UNHCR, close to 26,000 Congolese refugees have crossed the border since in August.