Alert on Cholera outbreak and humanitarian crisis in Uvira city, South Kivu Province, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Global Refugee Leaders Forum (GRLF) is a Project of the Collective of Youth Organizations for Solidarity in the Democratic Republic of Congo (COJESKI), the Global Refugee Leaders focuses mainly on the promotion of forced migrants’ rights in DRC and in the region. The GRLF is currently following up the movements of the population in eastern DRC who are fleeing the ongoing war of AFC/M23 backed by Rwanda.
Statics of the population in Uvira
There are no clear and accurate statistics of the population in Uvira and this is a general problem is the Democratic Republic of Congo which partners should encourage the Government to solve. However, estimations indicate the population of Uvira is about 450,000 people living in the three main divisions: Kavinvira, Mulongwe and Kalundu. Uvira is one among the areas that has been at war over the years since 1996 up to now, at least every five years a war comes up and kills all what people have already tried to set up.
According to the chairperson of urban refugees, only Burundians refugees are estimated at about 7,000 among them 3,500 are identified, the number of Rwandan refugees is unknown but according to CAPRIDIS a local network focusing on refugee protection, Rwandan refugees are estimated at about 2,500 identified but they are estimated at about 5,000 in the same way CAPRIDIS estimates Internally Displaced Persons at about 4,000.
We are highly concerned about the current situation in Uvira City which hosts many forced migrants now.
Uvira is the second city of South Kivu Province in DRC, Uvira is located on the shore of Lake Tanganyika and it is exactly opposite Bujumbura the Capital City of Burundi, Uvira is surrounded by the mountains which are part of the Mitumba Chain. Currently Uvira is facing economic challenges because it is cut off from Bukavu. The City is surrounded by areas which are at war and many people from these areas have moved to Uvira to seek safety.
On top of its population Uvira also is hosting many Internally Displaced Persons from Goma and Bukavu, and also at the same time Uvira is hosting refugees from Rwanda and Burundi. In last few years 1/3 of the Uvira population was affected by the flooding which destroyed everything and left thousands of people without assistance and in vulnerable situations up to now. This has put pressure to the existing services mainly food, shelter and accessing health services. To make the matter worse, most of humanitarian relief aid agencies left Uvira and yet they were the providers of most of the basic needs which kept the situation under control.
For example currently we are observing increased number of malnourished children, we also observe the increase of children begging on the street, we are observing the increasing the number of young girls involved on survival sex, while some people get water on their taps once a week others just do not get it, and this exposes them to only collect water either from the Lake Tanganyika or from the Rivers and unfortunately this water is not good for use at home. Those involved in Restaurant activities only depend on this water which is not safe, and as Uvira is extremely hot people are just drinking this water.
Some parts of Uvira faced flooding and the survivors were not effectively helped in order to recover, in their temporal sites, all the temporal toilets that were constructed are now full and posing problems to those in these sites and there is no interventions to manage the human waste, when it rains it is a problem and when there is sunshine we observe smell in some parts.
Uvira currently is hosting a big number of government soldiers and other local armed groups who also have increased the number of people who do not have access to pit latrines, this has increased the human waste in different parts of the city. The combination of all these factors has caused the current Cholera outbreak which has claimed lives of innocent people. The recent statistics indicated that 301 people were already identified by health services, and 12 died only on Tuesday March 18th, 2025, and again these were the ones that have been identified so far because they reached the health centers, while others are still suffering in their communities especially the most vulnerable who do not have money and who depend on harbor medicine. Put all these into consideration the situation is worse now and needs urgent interventions.
Attacks against vulnerable people in Uvira
Attacks on civilians in Uvira City, from the date of 8 to 25th February 2025 was in a critical situation of gunfire between the National Army and Wazalendo local fighters, during this fighting people to lost their home equipment, home materials, shops, boutiques, markets, supermarkets, banks, schools, churches, mosques were looted while IDPs on the way were grabbed all what they had by armed groups. This reduced people to the very state of vulnerability in which they are now currently.
Reponses to this situation
Our interventions will focus on different activities both at Community and at National level.
Advocacy
Up to now, local authorities have not yet made this a priority especially the Mayor of Uvira who has not yet said anything about it, it is the same at National level where even the Minister of Health has remained silent and that alone does not help. We need to engage the local the Mayor of Uvira and the Ministry of Health in DRC to come up and get involved. We call upon our partners and other actors who can help us to engage the DRC Government to do so as quickly as possible. In the same way we also call upon international organizations to get mobilized and quickly intervene in order to save lives in Uvira.
Support to Health Centers:
To support the health centers that are treating those who are already affected by Cholera through Tents, providing clean water, liquid soap, bathing soap, washing soap, gloves, Mosquito Nets, Temporal beds, food for the patients and paying for medical bills. We wish the to support health centers in the three (3) Divisions of Uvira which are in the areas that are more affected mainly Kalundu, Kalimabenge, Kimanga, Songo, Namianda,Mulongwe, Kasenga, Kavinvira, Kiliba.
Community Awareness Campaigns
These campaigns will focus on creating awareness to the entire population about reducing Cholera, Malaria, HIV/AIDs, Hygiene, eating habits, child protection, solidarity among people, sexual and reproductive health, mitigating community perceptions about certain things attributing to spirits, information about income generating activities, among others.
Human waste Management
Management of human wastage in various toilets among flood survivors sites in Uvira and providing with Chemicals to ensure that these are not a threat to people, to sensitive people on the necessity to boil drinking water and other methods to make water safe. The need to put in place public toilets and engaging people to make the city clean.
Clean Water Supply
Support the Water Agency and work together in order to ensure that each person in Uvira has access to clean water in order to reduce the use of the water from Rivers and the Lake Tanganyika, and working together with local authorities to ensure that public restaurants complies with hygiene standards.
Food Distribution
This intervention will also support vulnerable people with food especially IDPs and refugees and also vulnerable women in the host communities. The number of people will depend on the available aide but we would like to support 900 household, among the most vulnerable generally single women, unaccompanied minors, young girls at high risk, the elderly and other vulnerable groups such as people living with disabilities.
Weekly porridge to malnourished children and women
We shall have porridge to children already in bad conditions and women also in the same way, at least twice a week for three months and after that we believe they will have restored their original health. This will help malnourished children to restore their health.
Management of Refugees and IDPs
There is an urgent need to work with local authorities and United Nations Agencies in order to transfer refugees, asylum seekers who are in transit centers in Uvira to refugee camps in Fizi, and the same time put in place areas which will accommodate Internally Displaced Persons, in the same way engage the Minister of Defense to put in place a proper management of armed people in Uvira.
The Humanitarian Crisis in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Since 1996, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been plagued by violence through regular wars, actually each five years the eastern DRC faces a war. But today, the suffering has reached an unimaginable level because people are extremely vulnerable as they have not managed to build their lives for so many years. This current war started in April 2022 and since then many people have been on the run up today, they lost everything and have only survived on relief aid from international organizations.
On January 27, 2025, the city of Goma (North Kivu Province) was captured by the group of AFC/M23 fighters and this again forced thousands of people to leave their homes. On February 14, 2025—a Friday night—the city of Bukavu (South Kivu Province) was also captured by AFC/M23 fighters and again this plugged thousands of people on the road towards different directions.
Thanks
Kulihoshi Musikami Pecos
Executive Director
Global Refugee Leaders Forum
Tel: +243853191163
Email: refugeeleadersforum@gmail.com
Website: www.globalrefugeeleaders.org
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