OCHA Humanitarian Newsmaker: Vol 1, Issue 7 - Sep 2007

In this issue:

- Emergency Relief Coordinator on visit to DRC

- Numbers of Chadian displaced rises as IDP strategy faces funding crunch

- Earth tremor preparedness actions stepped up

- CEA: Emerging impact of floods

- Chadian Nomads Crossing into Darfur

- Follow-up to these developments and more regional humanitarian information: http://ochaonline.un.org/rocea

Emergency Relief Coordinator on visit to DRC

John Holmes, United Nations Under- Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, will be visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from the 3-8 September.

Mr. Holmes is first visiting Kinshasa for meetings with the Government, UN, NGOs, donors and MONUC officials. During the rest of his trip he will go to the troubled provinces of the East, South and the Kivus. Mr. Holmes will primarily focus on the issues of forced displacement, child soldiers and sexual and genderbased violence (SGBV).

Intermittent conflict in the east has generated an estimated 163,000 new displacements in North Kivu alone since January. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reports that thousands of newly displaced people are fleeing tensions and insecurity in the Masisi and Rutshuru districts of North Kivu, in the eastern DRC as a result of the recent fighting.

In order to get a first hand account of the humanitarian consequences of the conflict in the east, Mr. Holmes will visit internally displaced persons sites, hospitals and health centres specialised in assistance to victims of sexual violence and a centre for reinsertion of child soldiers.

He will then hold discussions with victims, beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance, humanitarian workers and local authorities to, among others, advocate for the protection of civilians who are bearing the brunt of the current hostilities.

Following his six day mission in DRC, Mr. Holmes is expected to give a press conference in Nairobi.