Médecins Sans Frontières vaccination used as bait in unacceptable attack on civilians

Vaccination queue at a mobile clinic in DRC. © Sami Nafartche / MSF.

Kinshasa, 6th November 2009 – Seven Médecins Sans Frontières vaccination sites, where thousands of civilians had gathered, 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). Médecins Sans Frontières denounces this clearly unacceptable abuse of humanitarian aid for military purposes.

Médecins Sans Frontières launched a mass vaccination campaign in Masisi district to support the Ministry of Health in response to a measles epidemic. On 17th October, Médecins Sans Frontières medical teams were vaccinating thousands of children in seven different sites in Ngomashi and Kimua zones, controlled by the FDLR at the time. All parties to the conflict had given security guarantees to Médecins Sans Frontières to vaccinate at these locations at those times. However, the Congolese national army launched attacks on each of the vaccination sites. All the people who had come to get their children vaccinated were forced to flee the heavy fighting. Scattering everywhere, they are now in unknown locations and thus cannot be vaccinated. Médecins Sans Frontières had to stop their activities in these zones and evacuate the teams to Goma city.

“We feel we were used as bait,” says Luis Encinas, head of Médecins Sans Frontières programmes in Central Africa. “The attacks coincided with the beginning of our vaccination and put the lives of civilians in extreme risk. Thousands of people, and our teams, were trapped in the gunfire. The attack was an unacceptable abuse of humanitarian action to fulfill military objectives. How will Médecins Sans Frontières be perceived by the population now? Will our patients still feel safe enough to access medical care? We are compelled to strongly denounce this situation as such actions seriously compromise our neutrality.”

Médecins Sans Frontières is an independent medical, humanitarian organisation that delivers impartial medical aid according to the strictest principles of neutrality. It is this neutrality that makes it possible for Médecins Sans Frontières teams to vaccinate in such FDLR-controlled zones, which, until that point, had been inaccessible to Ministry of Health staff.

In addition, the last few months have seen a worrying increase in attacks against humanitarian organisations by various armed groups in North and South Kivu.

“Médecins Sans Frontières demands that all parties to a conflict respect the work of humanitarian organisations,” adds Meinie Nicolai, Médecins Sans Frontières director of operations. “If not, it is the populations who pay the price. Those already overwhelmed by extreme violence and endless displacement are the ones who may end up cut off from humanitarian assistance.”

165,000 children aged from six months to 15 years were vaccinated against measles during this campaign in the Masisi region. In Masisi, Médecins Sans Frontières supports a hospital, a health centre, runs mobile clinics and vaccinations. Médecins Sans Frontières also brings medical care to the people in Walikale, Rutshuru, and Lubero districts, as well as in South Kivu province. Médecins Sans Frontières has worked in North Kivu since 1992.