CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF* (30 May)
Despite favourable weather conditions in eastern parts, agricultural production continues to be disrupted by the escalation of inter-ethnic fighting. In particular, in the northeastern Ituri Region, around the main city of Bunia, thousands of people have been displaced by the ethnic violence. The UN Security Council has authorized increased UN military presence in the region and troop reinforcements are arriving. WFP has recently completed the registration of 50 000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in North Kivu Province, among whom were many who fled fighting in Bunia. Another 100 000 IDPs displaced by earlier fighting in March in North Kivu region have been registered in Lubero, north of Goma city. The food supply situation of these people gives cause for serious concern. Persistent insecurity coupled with a shortfall in the food aid pipeline continue to hamper distributions.
While the food and nutritional situation is grave in eastern provinces, increased malnutrition is also reported from other regions. In Lubumbashi, the main city of Katanga province with 1.5 million inhabitants, recent assessments indicate that a combination of decreasing cash incomes and food availability has led to a nutrition crisis, with 20 percent of the population eating only once every other day and 50 percent eating once per day. A nutritional survey carried out in January this year found that 5.3 percent of children aged under five living in Lubumbashi suffered from acute malnutrition. Humanitarian assistance is urgently needed in this region to avert a crisis of major proportions.