SOS Children ready themselves as fighting worsens in DR of Congo

07 Nov 2008

Heavy fighting which begun a few weeks ago is worsening in North Kivu between Congolese Tutsi rebels and government troops after a cease-fire which lasted only a few days.

Fighting between the government army and the rebel National Congress for the Defense of the People (led by Laurent Nkunda), has broken out in Kibati, a few miles from Goma.

UNHCR, said today that around Kibati alone, 65,000 people are sheltering in makeshift camps.

Although the two SOS Children's Villages in Bukavu and Uvira have not yet been directly in contact with fighting, it is expected the security situation will worsen in these adjacent regions as well. SOS also has three Children's Villages in Rwanda which contain orphans from the Rwandan genocide to which the current conflict traces its roots. The Bukavu and Uvira villages marked on the map are adjacent to the border with Rwanda.

Both Villages have started to prepare for the worst. The Villages will be supplied with at least one months food rations as well as extra First-Aid kits. Mothers, children and staff will be briefed on what to do in an emergency situation, particularly in an evacuation. Other SOS Children's Villages in the neighbouring countries would take the children from the Village if needed.

We will keep you up-to-date with news from both Children's Villages as the situation develops. We are expecting an increasing need for people to sponsor a child in Congo and Rwanda although there may be delays in setting sponsorships up.

The fighting in the African country the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) doesn't often make the headlines, yet it is one of the bloodiest conflicts since WW2. In less than five years, around 3.3 million people are estimated to have been killed, the vast majority of them civilians.

Relevant Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda.