Photo: Honourable Karina Gould (4th from right) stands with Kizimba camp's Women Council

Masisi  – Canada’s Minister of International Development, the Honourable Karina Gould, last week visited the Kizimba displacement camp in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is coordinated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).   

“Despite hardship and adversity, the women, children, and committee members at Kizimba are resilient and driven,” she said after touring some of the structures on January 16, and meeting members from the camp`s various committees who have been coordinating activities to improve living conditions. 

“They are helping to improve living conditions for everyone in their community.”  

The camp is one of DRC`s oldest displacement sites, housing families who were forced to flee their homes due to conflict. 

Kizimba was initially constructed to provide temporary shelter for populations fleeing conflict. Seven years on, nearly 3,000 people continue to call the displacement site home.  

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates more than one million people were newly displaced by violence perpetuated by armed groups in the last year in eastern DRC.  

Many sought shelter in increasingly remote areas that humanitarian agencies struggle to reach. It is estimated that over five million people are displaced throughout the entire country, including refugees from surrounding countries.  

The country is also struggling to contain the spread of Ebola. It`s the first time the disease has taken hold in an active conflict area. Ebola has claimed more than 2,230 lives since August 2018.   

It is in this context that the Canadian delegation visited Kizimba Displacement Site in North Kivu province where the IOM has been providing humanitarian assistance with the support of the Canadian government and other funding agencies since 2013.  

On January 15, Canada announced an additional CAD$56 million to support a holistic humanitarian response and fight Ebola in the region. This includes funding for humanitarian needs such as food and nutrition assistance, health care, clean water, shelter and protection services.  

The chairman of the site’s steering committee Emmanuel Ndayisaba said most of the people in Kizimba site aspire to return to their places of origin.   

“Above all, our major aspiration is to return to our respective places of origin,” he told Minister Gould and David McLachlan-Karr, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and United Nations Resident Coordinator & Humanitarian Coordinator UN Stabilization Mission in DRC.  

“We are also taking advantage of this visit to ask you to make a plea for security to return so that we can return home.”   

IOM, in collaboration with the National Commission for Refugees (CNR) and the NGO AIDES, coordinates the management of the site with funding from the Government of Canada.  

For more information, please contact Daco Tambilika at IOM DRC, Email: dtambilika@iom.int