AD HOC UPDATE #7: New influx from the Central African Republic to the DRC

12 February 2021

Highlights

▪ As of 12 February, DRC have reported the arrival of an estimated 92,000 individuals who fled from CAR as a result of the violence that erupted amid the December 2020 elections.

▪ As of 11 February 2021, UNHCR and CNR have biometrically registered a total of 26,137 new arrivals from CAR.

▪ From 1-3 February, a joint mission by the Resident Representative/Humanitarian coordinator, the Government, UN agencies and NGOs was scheduled to travel to North Ubangi to assess the situation. UNHCR Representative Liz Ahua participating in the distribution of core relief items to some of the most vulnerable refugees in Yakoma North Ubangi ▪ UNHCR is biometrically registering up to 1,000 Province, DRC. © UNHCR/Gemund new arrivals per day.

L2 Emergency Declaration

On 21 January, a Level 2 emergency has been declared for the UNHCR Operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This decision is designed to scale up UNHCR operations’ preparedness and response activities in addressing the protection needs of refugees and other populations affected by the new crisis.

I- SITUATION

• Elections

Presidential and legislative elections were held on 27 December 2020 in the Central African Republic (CAR) in a tense security context characterized by sporadic violence. Several armed groups, most of them, signatories of the February 2019 peace agreement, called off a ceasefire and merged into the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC). They resumed military operations against the government, carrying out deadly attacks in major towns including on the outskirts of the capital Bangui. There have been fears of further violence, since the validation of the victory of re-elected president, Faustin Archange Touadera by CAR’s Constitutional Court on Monday 18 January 2021.

• Security situation

On 21 January, the CAR authorities declared a 15-day state of emergency across the country. As the situation remains tense within CAR, displacement is expected to continue in the near future. The newly displaced population reported human rights violations against civilians and looting by armed groups in various villages in CAR. Most of the new arrivals remain very close to the borders where they face risks of further attacks and rights violations by armed groups. The majority of them are women, children, while there are also many other persons with special needs elderly persons at risk, persons with disabilities and survivors of SGBV.

UNHCR and the National Commission for Refugees (CNR) joint monitoring teams at the border in the three provinces affected by the influx, report that, most of the arrivals are from the south-eastern town of Béma. Bangassou, and most recently, Bangui. A majority of the new arrivals are staying with host communities or in makeshift shelters.

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• Consequences on the voluntary repatriation operation Insecurity in CAR is affecting the voluntary repatriation operation, relaunched in November 2020 after the COVID- 19 pandemic had forced border closures. More than 17,000 refugees currently living at Mole and Boyabu camps in South Ubangi Province had expressed their intention to return home. However, several areas previously deemed safe to receive returnees are now possibly controlled by rebels. It should be noted that some of the new arrivals from the outskirts of Bangui are possibly refugees who had returned in recent voluntary repatriations from Mole and Boyabu camps in South Ubangi province, between 2019 and 2020.

Figure 1 : Entry points of newly arrived families from the Central African Republic

II- STATISTICS

According to local authorities, 92,053 individuals from the Central African Republic have arrived in the DRC. (this estimated figure is yet to be verified). This includes an estimated 46,659 individuals in Bas Uele Province, 35,331 in North Ubangi Province and 10,063 in South Ubangi province. Most of the new arrivals have stayed close to the borders in some 40 villages along the banks of the border rivers that separate CAR from DRC.

A biometric registration of refugees is ongoing in several location along the border. As of 11 February 2021, UNHCR and CNR have biometrically registered a total of 7,488 households comprising 26,137 individual new asylum seekers from CAR. UNHCR and CNR register new refugees in Ndu, Bas Uele Province © UNHCR/ Nentobo

III- NEEDS

The greatest needs of the new arrivals regard food, water, shelter, health care, documentation, education, core relief items and sanitation to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and epidemic diseases.

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• Some families arriving from the Central African Republic are provided shelter by host community families, while others seek shelter under makeshift shelters along the Ubangi river. Most families arrived in the DRC with very few or no personal belongings. • Humanitarian access to newly arrived individuals from CAR currently staying at Kpako and Koukou sites on the banks of the Ubangi River, two kilometres from the village of Nzakara, North Ubangi Province, remains impossible because these individuals are settled on islets in the Ubangi River that are far from the host villages and difficult to access. Some people are now being accommodated by local host communities who often lack the resources to meet their own needs. Several unaccompanied children are among new arrivals • The arrival of more than 17,000 people from CAR in Ndu, Bas- in Satema, North Ubangi province. They are living with other families in makeshift shelters. © UNHCR/ Achu Uele Province, is placing a great strain on resources and on host families in this border village which usually contains a population of 3,500 people. • There is an urgent need to relocate the refugees squatting very close to the borders where they are susceptible to risks of further attacks by armed groups from CAR. • Psychosocial support is needed for vulnerable groups, including survivors of SGBV that UNHCR is currently identifying. • In some host community villages, health care is almost non-existent with very little medical equipment, medicines, or trained health care personnel. Persons with serious health conditions who identified during medical screenings in Ndu have to travel over 75km on extremely rough roads to Monga General Hospital, Bas Uele Province. This risks aggravating their medical condition. • There are several unassisted births among new arrivals in very remote border villages. Women and girls are also in dire need of hygiene kits. • The team also reported increasing movements from Ndjoukou sub prefecture and surrounding localities, CAR to DRC (Pandu, Gboko, Boduna, Sidi). Some are taking refuge in small villages prone to floods. This is potentially a life-threatening situation, given the start of the rainy season in barely weeks. • Emergency education services are needed to reinforce protection for children who make up a significant portion of the displaced population. • There is a need to strengthen COVID-19 awareness and prevention measures at border services and host sites (with infra-red thermometers, masks, hand washing devices, etc.), given increased risks of infection as a result of mass movement and crowded settlement sites. • UNHCR is raising resources to airlift more emergency equipment from Kinshasa to Gbadolite to assist people in need as quickly as possible. Further resources for trucking this equipment to the border areas as well as for warehousing stocks are also needed. • Logistics support to transport more core relief items to affected areas is very urgent, given the approach of the rainy season, which will render movement on already extremely degraded or quasi inexistent roads in both North Ubangi and Bas Uele provinces impossible.

IV- ACTIONS

• From 1-3 February 2021, UNHCR led a joint mission with the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Representatives of UNICEF, WFP, IOM, OCHA, UNDSS, ACTED (representing the INGO forum) and the Permanent Secretary of the National Commission for Refugees (CNR) in Yakoma and Gbadolite, North Ubangi Province to assess the situation. They visited the UNHCR registration centre in Yakoma, spontaneous refugee sites along the river and Modale village, identified as a potential site where refugees could be settled. Meetings were held with refugee representatives, partners and the Deputy Governor of North Ubangi to assess the needs and discuss possible emergency assistance. • As of 11 February 2021, UNHCR and CNR have biometrically registered a total of 7,488 households comprising 26,137 individual new asylum seekers from CAR, including 14,774 persons in Ndu, 584 in Yele/Bangalo, 1,864 individuals in Ibangu, 835 in Nyanji all in Bas Uele Province and 6,455 in Yakoma, North Ubangi Province and 1,625 in Sagila, South Ubangi Province. • UNHCR is biometrically registering up to 1,000 new arrivals per day, which enables the early identification of people with vulnerabilities. UNHCR is working closely with the government, is scaling up registration activities, and will update the population figures based on actual registrations. • On 24 January, local authorities in Satema village (DRC), 100 km from Gbadolite town in North Ubangi Province reported an influx of an estimated 2,000 individuals from CAR. A joint UNHCR/CNR/local NGOs mission to Satema on Saturday 29 January learnt that these new arrivals fled an inter-tribal conflict between the Langba and Gbandi-

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Yakoma people in Bas Kotto Prefecture in CAR on Sunday 24 January 2021. This group reported that militants of armed groups, also members of a rival tribe attacked them, looting and burning homes. UNHCR is looking at possibilities to move these refugees away from the border. • UNHCR continues to promote shelter outside of camps, with a view to providing effective protection and assistance to refugees while contributing to local infrastructure. • Two sites been identified in Modale (for those in Yakoma) and Goya (for those in Ndu) to move new arrivals who have remained very close to the borders. UNHCR is assessing these sites where refugees can be settled inside the local communities and be included in the national structures/systems. In such sites, social infrastructure will be improved, including schools, water supply, health centres and income generating activities (mainly agriculture) developed, to promote self-reliance among refugees as well as the host community. Awareness raising continues to get new arrivals to move inland where they will be safe from any further attacks by armed groups from CAR. • UNHCR is working with CNR, to advocate for official authorization from the DRC government, for these identified sites to be used, and for the provision of arable land for new refugees. • Awareness raising on COVID-19 is going on at registration sites. Masks have also been distributed to those in the process of registration. There is an urgent need to strengthen COVID-19 prevention measures in sites hosting new arrivals in the DRC. • With the rainy season to start in six weeks, UNHCR has continued pre-positioning of life-saving emergency supplies in Yakoma, North Ubangi Province before vast areas become inaccessible by road. Sleeping mats, blankets, buckets, mosquito nets, kitchen sets, jerry cans, tarpaulins and surgical facemasks, are already in warehouses in Ndu and Yakoma. • On the basis of the registration, UNHCR and its partners distributed emergency supplies to 1,214 vulnerable refugee households in Bas Uele (400 households), North Ubangi (50 households) and South Ubangi (764 households). • AIDES carried out medical and nutritional screening for over 5,600 newly arrived asylum-seekers in Ndu, Bas Uele province. As the screening proceeds, treatment is being administered for prevalent diseases such as Malaria, intestinal infections, diarrhoea, respiratory tract infections and malnutrition. • UNHCR and CNR joint teams continue to monitor the situation at the borders along the Ubangi River. • UNHCR continues to identify persons with special needs, including female-headed households and separated or unaccompanied children in Ndu. So far, 14 survivors of sexual violence, 20 children at risk and 326 persons with special needs have been identified in the affected areas. AIDES provided psychosocial support to one survivor of child marriage.

Contact Johannes van Gemund, Senior External Relations Officer, UNHCR Representation Kinshasa, [email protected], Tel: +243 817 009 484 Fabien Faivre, Associate External Relations Officer, UNHCR Representation Kinshasa, [email protected], Tel: +243 825 443 419

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