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Congo: Peace and oil dividends fail to benefit remaining IDPs and other vulnerable populations
/922B711DB7C2FEB9C125763C002F29B2/$file/congo_idmc_sep09.gif) Map of internal displacement in the Republic of the Congo, 1998-2009
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31 December 2008
Up to 800,000 people were displaced during the 1990s by conflict in the Pool region around Brazzaville, between government forces and rebels originating from among the Lari people. Fighting flared up again in 2002 but transformation of the rebel group into a political party gave hope by 2007 of an end to the violence. By 2006, according to a government estimate, only 7,800 people remained displaced in Pool. Since then no new assessments of the number of IDPs have been conducted, but the UN estimated in 2008 that the number had decreased considerably, and reported that there were no more IDPs in its last Displaced Populations Report of December 2008.
However, IDPs have long been hard to identify as most sought refuge with families and host communities, often in the Bacongo and Makelekélé neighbourhoods of the capital Brazzaville. Sites in which IDPs received assistance from humanitarian organisations, in Brazzaville or elsewhere, were closed by the government following a small-scale return exercise.
In 2008 any remaining IDPs and returnees continued to share considerable hardship with other residents of Pool. For example, due to extreme poverty and the government’s incapacity to deliver basic services, less than half of the population had access to clean water. According to Médecins Sans Frontières in 2007, the medical needs of the region were still indicative of a chronic crisis. While the situation is no longer considered as a humanitarian emergency, two million dollars were nonetheless disbursed to UN agencies in 2008 by the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), to assist returnees and local communities, as well as 50,000 refugees from DRC. The funds were used to provide health care services including emergency obstetrics, agriculture and food security support, and nutrition, water and sanitation projects.
Up to 800,000 people in the Republic of the Congo – a quarter of the population – were internally displaced during the 1990s by armed conflict in the Pool region between government forces and rebels originating from among the Lari ethnic group. The conflict ended in 2003, and by 2006, according to a government estimate, only 7,800 people remained displaced in Pool.
Since then no new assessment of the number of IDPs has been conducted, and the UN reported no change to the government estimate in its Displaced Populations Report of January – March 2009. More significantly, no study of whether former IDPs have achieved durable solutions has been carried out, leaving unanswered the question of whether internal displacement has really ended in the Republic. (...)
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25 September 2009
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| Overview: |
Peace and oil dividends fail to benefit remaining IDPs and other vulnerable populations (25 September 2009) HTML | PDF |
| Résumé du profil: |
Les dividendes de la paix et la rente pétrolière ne bénéficient pas aux personnes toujours déplacées ni aux autres groupes vulnérables (25 septembre 2009) HTML | PDF |
Internal Displacement Profile
"Résumé du Profil en Français","Résumé du Profil en Français"
"Causes and Background","Background","Causes of displacement","Peace efforts","General human rights overview"
"Population Figures and Profile","Global figures","Geographical distribution"
"Patterns of Displacement","General"
"Physical Security & Freedom of Movement","General protection issues","Physical security","Children and armed conflict","Gender-based violence (GBV)","Freedom of movement"
"Subsistence Needs","General","Food","Nutrition","Health","Water and sanitation","Shelter and non-food items"
"Access to Education","General"
"Issues of Self-Reliance and Public Participation","Issues of self-reliance","Public Participation"
"Issues of Family Unity, Identity and Culture","Family Unity"
"Patterns of Return and Resettlement","Return prospects","Obstacles to return","Return movements","Disarmament","Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR)"
"Humanitarian Access","General"
"National and International Responses","National Response","International Response","References to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement"
Previous Profile updates
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- Key Documents
- Congo Country Brief, WB, March 2009
- Evaluation de base sur la circulation des armes légères et de petit calibre en République du Congo, Small Arms Survey, December 2007
- Procédure d'Appel Global (CAP) 2007, UN OCHA, 30 November 2006
- Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, IMF, 27 September 2004
- The Long Shadow of War: Prospects for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration in the Republic of Congo, UNDP, 6 March 2003
- Congo-Brazzaville: Chronicle of a Forgotten War, MSF, October 1999
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