FAO/GIEWS: Africa Report 05/97

ZAIRE

CURRENT SITUATION

There was abundant precipitation over the entire country since the beginning of the year. In the north, the second maize crop is growing satisfactory. The first maize crop in the centre and the second maize crop in the south are maturing. Sorghum is being planted in the east. Severe rainfall deficit was reported from June 1996 to January 1997 in the Bas Zaire area in the west, where it has substantially limited food production. Zairean government made a request for food and seed assistance in this area.

The food supply situation continues to deteriorate in eastern Zaire. Advances by insurgents have forced Rwandan refugees who had settled in the region and local Zairians to flee. Severe malnutrition is reported. As a result of poor infrastructure, food is difficult to transport to theses areas and only limited quantities could be supplied. Distributions are still very difficult as refugees are moving and are dispersed in the forest.

In April, more than 100 000 refugees left Lula, a site 7 km south of Kisangani where they had concentrated until late March and moved on about 60 km along the road and railway from Kinsangani to Ubundu. Food aid was distributed by train along the railway, and by truck. On 18 April, WFP food aid stocks were looted by hundreds of Zairian villagers from a warehouse complex recently installed near Kinsangani. UNHCR was preparing repatriation by air of the refugees, as well as road transportation of about 20 000 internally displaced Zairians. However, the repatriation process had been suspended by local authorities due to an upsurge of cholera and then following the departure of refugees from the camps near Kisangani: on 23 April, about 85 000 refugees disappeared from Biaro and Kasese camps, south of Kisangani, following fightings. Aid agencies organized an aerial search on 25 April but only a few small groups of refugees have been located in the jungle. They started to come out of the forest in late April and repatriation to Rwanda is now underway. Amisi and Tingi Tingi camps are also empty and all surviving refugees were evacuated by air to Goma and Rwanda. In addition, other refugees are returning through the northern axis through Karuba and Tongo way stations. A group of 15 000-20 000 refugees has emerged from the forests and concentrated in Karuba, west of Goma. They seem to be part of a larger group who left their camps in Goma in October and had been missing since then, hidden in the Masisi area. About 75 000 refugees are also moving west or south in Equateur and Bandundu provinces. Rebels are now controlling Lubumbashi, the second largest town of Zaire. They are advancing towards Kinshasa. A meeting between Zaire President Mobutu Sese Seko and rebel leader Laurent Kabila is scheduled in early May to discuss a peaceful transition in Zaire.

There are also an estimated 50 000 assisted and 119 000 unassisted Angolan refugees in southern Zaire. Most of the unassisted population is expected to return spontaneously, following the improvement of the situation in Angola while repatriation for the assisted refugees is scheduled to begin by mid-1997. Around 110 000 Sudanese and 18 500 Ugandan refugees also remain in Zaire. In the Kasaï region, approximately 600 000 displaced people, who arrived in 1992, fleeing ethnic violence in the Shaba region are present. Many of them are self sufficient, except in Mwene-Ditu, where their nutritional situation is reported to be critical.