The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday said it is working to relocate thousands of Central African refugees to safe locations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

In a statement, the agency said it will relocate refugees from Central African Republic who are currently in dangerous conditions to remote border areas of the DRC.

At least 100,000 people have been displaced within the country by recent violence. Another 107,000 fled to neighboring countries – Cameroon, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of Congo – according to the UNHCR.

Congolese authorities estimate that 92,000 refugees have arrived from the Central African Republic after election-linked violence erupted in December.

Fighting between a coalition of non-state armed groups and government forces continued over the past two months, plunging the country into a new cycle of violence.

The statement said the UNHCR and DRC’s National Refugee Commission (CNR) “will prepare four relocation sites for some 35,000 refugees to live alongside local communities and grow their own crops, attend local schools, and benefit from other services that serve their Congolese hosts. Settling refugees in local communities will allow them to live with greater dignity and independence.”

“Most Central African refugees are now living along riverbanks in hard-to-reach border areas, among host communities with extremely limited resources.

“Conditions are dire, with many refugees sleeping in makeshift shelters. Most have little to no access to drinking water, sanitation, or food. Some have been welcomed by host families, sometimes with up to three refugee families living in a single home,” the statement said.

-AA

Head of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo held Wednesday her last press conference in Kinshasa as she prepares to hand over the baton at the end of her three years as the head of the UN mission.

"Today, even if the conflict persists, it is still contained in three eastern provinces," said the head of the UN Mission in DRC.

For the Algerian, the situation is far from being terribly bad in the country. "Congo is not burning," she said.

Leïla Zerrougui welcomed the organization of elections that allowed a peaceful transition of power for the first time in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "There is no one who claims to be from an armed group to say "I am taking power," she said.

Zerrougui though warned that "the risk of going backwards is not excluded".

A highly criticised mandate

The diplomat leaves with a taste of incomplete work on certain points. For example, she regrets not having been able to move forward with the demobilization, disarmament and reintegration projects at the community level.

While refusing to consider this as a failure, she explains all wasn't in place to get started. Her critics point to the "inefficiency" of the mission's Rapid Intervention Brigade in the Béni region.

Zerrougui is also criticized for having proposed in October 2018 the opening of negotiations with the ADF rebels.

-Africa News

The Ebola virus has killed two people in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Ministry of Health announced mid this week.

The second victim is a 60-year-old woman who died on Wednesday, Feb 10 in the district of Biena, Northern Kivu.

The DRC’s health ministry said that a team has been deployed to trace more than 100 contacts of the two women in the health zones of Biena and Katwa, both located in Northern Kivu Province.

On Thursday 11, Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organizations (WHO) regional director for Africa said that the organisation was working in coordination with the DRC’s government to prevent further spread.

The latest Ebola outbreak was confirmed in Northern Kivu, DRC  on 1 August 2018. The virus spread quickly where 3470 cases and  2287 deaths were registered until the virus was contained on 25 June 2020. 

According to WHO, the new Ebola cases could complicate efforts to eradicate Covid-19, which has infected 23,771 people and killed 684 in DRC.

Besides the effort to fight Covid-19, the WHO has alerted another possible wave of the Ebola virus in DRC, asking governments to reinforce preventive measures.

On 8 February 2021, WHO conducted an urgent meeting with the DRC’s Minister of Health, and a team led by the Provincial Minister of Health of North Kivu was deployed to Butembo near Kwata and Beina district to organize immediate Ebola response activities.

Investigation is going on in Katwa, Biena, and Musienene Health Zones to identify the source(s) of transmission, identify contacts, and conduct active case finding, according to WHO. 

A survey by the ‘New England Journal of Medicine’ that started in 2015 has revealed that Ebola virus may remain in men’s semen for more than two years. 

The survey reveals that some men who survived Ebola their semen later tested positive.

However, the new findings only show some men carry Neural Representational Assembly (RNA) or genetic material from Ebola long after recovering from the disease. It does not necessarily mean that all men who test positive for Ebola RNA are still capable of transmitting the virus.

WHO recommends that people who recover from Ebola virus be tested for any lingering presence of Ebola RNA three months after recovering, and then again until the test is negative on two consecutive monthly tests.

If men have not been tested, they should abstain from sex for 12 months, or use condoms every time they have sex, according to WHO guidelines.

-KTPress