Doctors Without Borders

Photo: Refugees in Minova, where many people settled after fleeing violence near Kanyaruchinya camp. DRC 2012 © Juan Carlos Tomasi/MSF

DRC: Displaced Fleeing Goma Face Dire Conditions

In the face of a rebel advance on Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, tens of thousands of people have emptied villages and displaced persons camps near the city and are desperate for assistance, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today.

The Kanyaruchinya camp, where MSF once provided medical services, is now empty after approximately 60,000 people—many of whom were previously displaced—fled in panic. Many have reached the Mugunga III, Mugunga I, and Lac Vert camps, or have headed south to camps in Minova and Kirotche in neighboring South Kivu. Conditions in many camps are precarious and food is lacking. 

MSF is providing health services and has set up water and sanitation facilities in Lac Vert and Mugunga I camps, and medical teams report thousands of new arrivals since Sunday, with people desperate for assistance.