“Displaced people are suffering due to relentless rains and wind battering their homes the last few days. Large numbers of families, who fled from conflict months ago, are left homeless while others are forced to share overcrowded tents with neighbours or relatives,” said Eric Batonon, Country Director for NRC in Nigeria.

According to NRC’s assessments, over 6,800 people living in displacement camps in Maiduguri have been impacted by floods in recent weeks. In Dikwa, 500 people have been rendered homeless due to flooding and have set up home in disused registration centres.

“They are essentially displaced within a displacement camp,” Batonon added.

“My home is completely destroyed. My floor has turned to mud and water is everywhere. The rain keeps coming and we do not have any choice but to wait for it to stop or share with others,” said displaced mother-of-four Fatima Mohammed (30).

The Adamawa State Government officially declared an outbreak of cholera in three local government areas during the rainy season. The total number of cases reported as of August 16 stands at 633. Four people have so far lost their lives to the disease. Due to recent heavy rain and flooding, more cases could be confirmed over the coming weeks.

“Displaced people are living in sub-human conditions across the region. There are no sanitation or drainage facilities in most camps. People are going to the toilet in open spaces because there are no facilities for them to use and now that the camps are filled with stagnant flood water, water-borne diseases like cholera quickly spread,” Batonon added.

The United Nations and partners have appealed for $848 million to address the needs in northeast Nigeria this year. About eight months into the year, less than 40 per cent has been received.

“Additional financial support is urgently needed to reach the 6.2 million people targeted for humanitarian aid in 2019. People will die if they don´t receive urgent assistance now,” Batonon said.

Furthermore, heavy rain periods present opportunities by armed groups to infiltrate and target displacement camps. On Tuesday night (August 20) in Dikwa, a female suicide bomber detonated a bomb, killing herself and injuring four civilians. This was the first attack of its kind in the area since December 2018.

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Ten years after the first attack launched by the armed group Boko Haram, more than two million people remain displaced from homes in northeast Nigeria, the highest number of any time over the last decade.

“Every week, people continue to flee violence and insecurity in northeast Nigeria. Many settle along the roadside or on empty strips of land, devoid of proper sanitation and water points,” says Eric Batonon, Country Director at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Nigeria.

Hundreds of thousands of people are living in overcrowded displacement sites far below international minimum standards and without proper access to latrines and clean water. Some have put up shelters made of wooden sticks and pieces of ripped fabric. These improvised shelters provide no protection against wind or rain and offer almost no privacy or security. Many don’t even have a door – leaving women, men and children highly vulnerable to intrusions and attacks.

More than 180,000 people are currently in need of shelter in Borno State with many sleeping in the open or in deplorable makeshift homes. As the rainy seasons gets underway, fears of another deadly outbreak of cholera are looming. Last year, 10,000 cholera cases were confirmed along with 175 recorded deaths, although the real figure is likely to have been much higher.

“People in Nigeria need safe pathways back to their homes and much better living conditions in the meantime. Displacement sites are dangerous, chaotic and entirely unsuitable for children. It is critical to decongest these overcrowded sites, provide people that have been forced to flee with safe, dignified facilities and prevent another deadly cholera outbreak,” Batonon adds.

The NRC is calling on donor countries to increase their financial support for relief to families trying desperately to survive in one of the world’s most volatile regions.

“Ten years on, it is harrowing to see families still crowding into make-shift shelters with inadequate drainage systems to remove rain water. The global humanitarian community, local and national authorities have to do much more and much better to improve the lives of these people,” says Batonon before concluding: “The world needs to scale up the relief work and send a message of hope to the more than seven million people in need of humanitarian assistance in northeast Nigeria. After a decade of conflict, we need to show them that they have not been forgotten.”

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“New displacements, lack of financial support, little to no humanitarian access due to insecurity and the spread of a deadly virus, is pushing DR Congo to the brink of disaster. The international community is looking away while a new humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding and it deserves urgent attention now,” said Maureen Philippon, Country Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in DR Congo.

“The level of atrocities, human rights violations and killings have reached a new high in Ituri province and again innocent civilians are bearing the brunt of this deplorable violence. We are hearing reports of indiscriminate killings, sexual violence, villages being burnt down and other forms of depravity against men, women and children,” she said.

Since early June, intense intercommunal violence in Djugu territory has forced more than 300,000 people to flee and seek refuge in neighbouring territories, according to estimates provided by UNHCR

According to several news reports, at least 160 persons have been killed while entire villages have been burned and abandoned. Displaced people have moved towards Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, and to more stable locations within Djugu, Mahagi and Irumu territories.

“The horrific consequences of violence are witnessed every day on the ground. It is frustrating to see the displacement and humanitarian crisis in DR Congo viewed by the world as a non-event year by year,” warned Philippon.

This latest emergency is likely to overstretch the already limited humanitarian resources available. As of June 25, only 21 per cent of the funds requested have been received.

“In the coming weeks, we will provide displaced persons in Bunia with food, shelters and household items that people can use for cooking and to shower but this will be nowhere near enough to cope with the needs. We urgently call on the international community to turn their declarations of deep concern into urgent action so we can reach as many displaced people as possible and ease their suffering,” Philippon concluded.”

Facts and Figures:

• Up to 300 000 displaced people in Ituri province alone (June 2019, UNHCR)
• Since the beginning of the current Ebola outbreak, there are 2153 confirmed cases in DR Congo and Ituri province alone has recorded 213 confirmed Ebola cases (June 2019), (DRC Health Ministry)
• About 13.1 million people are acutely food insecure across DR Congo, this represents 23% of the rural population of 101 territories, out of 145 territories; according to the IPC (August 2018 and June 2019)
• DR Congo was declared second most neglected crisis by the Norwegian Refugee Council – Neglected Crisis List 2018
• 4.5 million Congolese were internally displaced at the end of 2017 (UNOCHA)
• There were 1.8 million new displaced people by conflict and violence in DR Congo between January and December 2018 (IDMC)
• As of June 25, only 21 per cent of $1.65bn requested to respond to humanitarian needs in DR Congo has been received (UNOCHA)
• There are over 542 978 refugees in DR Congo (April 2019) (UNHCR)
• As of May 2019, there were 693,054 Congolese refugee and asylum seekers in Uganda (UNHCR)

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A record high number of 10,000 cases of cholera was recorded in northeast Nigeria in 2018, with more than 175 registered deaths, although the actual number may be higher.

“If the camps are not decongested and sanitation facilities improved, cholera will inevitably return, and vulnerable displaced people will bear the brunt of the epidemic again,” warned Eric Batonon, NRC’s Country Director for Nigeria.

Over the last decade, northeast Nigeria has been affected by cholera on a yearly basis. Now, following a rise of violence in late 2018 forcing over 100,000 people to flee, displacement camps and sites are overcrowded. This has resulted in a deterioration of the living conditions and a lack of sanitation facilities. For instance, 466 people are sharing one latrine at one of the displacement camps in the state of Borno, according to the Humanitarian Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). This is nine times above the agreed humanitarian standards, which is set at 50 people per latrine in emergency situations. As a result of lack of sanitation, people choose to defecate in the open, exacerbating an already vulnerable situation and increasing the likelihood of the spread of disease.

“The conflict in northeast Nigeria has now lasted for about ten years, and we should have learned the lessons of past cholera outbreaks and be able to prepare adequately to limit the impact,” said Batonon.

“We are calling for Nigerian authorities to provide additional land to develop decongestion plans and to enable the construction of new water and sanitation facilities. At the same time, the international community should provide the necessary funding to respond quickly and efficiently so we can end the cycle of yearly cholera outbreaks in the region.”

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“The expulsion of Congolese from Angola over the course of the last month is truly shocking and risk further destabilizing the situation in Kasai,” said Ulrika Blom, NRC DR Congo Country Director. “Several hundred thousand people flooding across the border to Congo puts an even greater strain on an already dire humanitarian situation.”

During the month of October, an estimated 360,000 Congolese have poured across the nine border crossings that the Democratic Republic of Congo shares with Angola. The people coming across the border are a mixed population of longstanding migrant workers, as well as the thousands of refugees who had fled Congo when the Kasai regional conflict broke out in the latter half of 2016 and into 2017.

An expulsion of unprotected Congolese citizens in such large numbers over a short period, poses a massive threat to the already fragile and unstable context in the Greater Kasai Region. At least 2 million people in the region have returned to their places of origin while 1.3 million remain displaced. With the funding of the Congo Humanitarian Response Plan well under 50 per cent and with a thin humanitarian presence in the region, there is a very serious risk that this latest influx of people in need could fuel conflict and cause hundreds of thousands of people in need to battle over the meagre assistance available.

“Lacklustre donor response to the overall humanitarian crisis in DR Congo has come to haunt us with this latest emergency at the Congo-Angola border,” said Blom. “The 2018 humanitarian budget is basically obsolete because of the sheer number of crises and setbacks we have experienced across the country over the last three months.”

The conditions that the expelled face once they return to Congo are shocking.
The risk of waterborne disease is high due to the lack of latrines and sanitation systems. People are unable to bathe regularly due to lack of potable water in border towns like Kamako. Thousands are sleeping outdoors, putting their security at risk, because there is no shelter or housing available for the influx of people crossing the border. Extortion of goods on both sides of the border is rife. Expelled children-many of them separated from their parents- are enrolling in local border schools without uniforms or any school materials.

Food prices for staple foods such as rice, flour and oil have tripled because Angolan merchants that normally crossed the border to sell their produce are too afraid to do so, thus paralysing the economy of Congolese border communities.

Finally, the economic situation is further compounded by the fact that the value of the Angolan Kwanza, the currency many of the expelled were using prior to being sent back to Congo, lost a third of its value since the beginning of the crisis in early-October.

“Hundreds of thousands of people have been robbed of their right to a dignified existence,” said Blom. “This is not a crisis that is about to begin, it is a full-blown emergency. The international community must urgently increase the funding for humanitarian assistance.”

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is addressing some of the humanitarian challenges arising from Congolese expulsion with rapid response interventions in the affected areas. The agency will provide water, shelter and cash, and will work to improve the sanitation facilities in consortium with the French humanitarian organisation, Solidarités International, with funding from UNICEF and the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Operations agency (ECHO). NRC has already assisted over 300,000 people in need across the Greater Kasai Region with cash, shelter, household items, education and food since May 2017.

About NRC in DR Congo

The Norwegian Refugee Council is an aid organization working in over 30 countries globally. It set up in DR Congo in 2001, and today helps communities in South Kivu, North Kivu, Ituri, Tanganyika and Kasaï-Central. We provide assistance in education, land rights and civil documentation, food, household items and rapid response to people who are displaced, to those returning from displacement and to host communities across the country.

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“The level of violence registered lately in Northeast Nigeria is alarming. Farmers have been easy targets. These attacks risk making people too afraid to cultivate their land and may worsen the existing food crisis,” said Anja Riiser, area manager for NRC in Maiduguri.

“Farmers should be able to cultivate their land and return to their families alive,” she added.

The latest attacks against farmers underscore the vulnerability of rural communities, even as the authorities are encouraging displaced people to return home to rebuild their lives.

“We were on the farms when about 15 armed men surrounded us,” Haruna, who escaped the attack, told NRC staff. “They took the men to a tree and started slaughtering them like animals. They repeatedly said they will not allow any of us to harvest the crops we cultivated this year,” he added.

At least 1300 people are reported to have fled after the attacks and many have taken refuge at a displacement camp in Maiduguri. Families and friends of the slain farmers said they are too scared to return to their farms.

“My children and I stood by as they killed my husband. I cried and pleaded for their mercy, but they didn’t listen. I will never return to the farm again,” said Indagiju, who fled the village.

The attacks on farmers risk worsening the existing food crisis in Northeast Nigeria. It is estimated that 2.9 million people are facing acute food insecurity in the northeastern states of Adamawa, Yobe, and Borno where violence has been on the rise. Crops have been destroyed and food stores looted, while farmers have either been killed or forced to flee their fields.

Large parts of Borno state may experience emergency levels of food insecurity in the coming months, according to the latest forecast by Famine Early Warning Systems Network, with elevated risk of famine in several areas.

“There is an urgent need for measures to protect farmers against attacks and looting, so they can safely cultivate their lands and feed their families,” said Riiser. “However, these measures to protect farmers should not translate into a restriction of their movements.”

Facts: 

• An estimated 7.7 million people in the three most affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe now depend on humanitarian assistance for their survival.

• Conflict will restrict the otherwise favourable main season production prospects, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network.

• NRC is currently providing life-saving assistance including food and livelihood support to help stabilize the living conditions of over 130,000 families displaced from their homes in northeast Nigeria.

• In 2018, NRC distributed seeds and farming implement to over 4,000 households in several farming communities in Borno Stateto help them rebuild their lives as farmers.

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