File:Nyanzale camp - 408881039.jpg

English: Nyanzale, in the Masisi, is about 150 km north and 6 hours drive from Goma. A small town the population has more than doubled with the arrival of 20,000 people displaced from villages up to a days walk away. They fled in January out of fear of fighting between the rebels of the Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda and Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo now dominated by Laurent N’Kunda’s soldiers. They are also avoiding armed bandits that live in the bush. Armed banditry is a growing problem. Unemployed soldiers and a surplus of small arms from years of fighting are a bad mix.

UNICEF with our implementing partner Solidarités has a stand by arrangement to respond to such rapid short term displacements. We call it the Rapid Response Mechanism. UNICEF stock piles with our partners plastic sheeting, jerry cans, cooking sets and clothing. When a displacement occurs a team goes out to assess and then provide support. Solidarités had with the community built latrines, a water source and a school. At the same time the World Food Programme generally provides a food distribution. In Nyanzale this was done by WFPs partner Caritas.

The camps are quiet in the day as the people go back to their villages to work their fields, leaving their children in the relative safety of the camp. Walking through the camp I met a child who I knew from one of the Transition Centres for child soldiers in Goma. He had left the centre without his documents and so was having trouble getting aid. Pernille agreed to talk with Albert the head of SOS Grands Lacs.