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The Great Lake Crisis
Being presented by Anjali, Deepak,Mrigendra
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The Event
Build up for the crisis came in the form of genocide in Rwanda in theprevious months
Within a day about 200,000 people entered into Tanzania from a singlecheck post.
On the other side of the country, 50000 people died in Caire of Cholera Around 10000 were killed of revenge killings in the forest
Because of Burundu crisis earlier there was some capacity for the newrefugees arriving.
1 million new refugees arrived in Goma city of Caire Testing times for the humanitarian agencies
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The Map
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The dilemma
Various dilemmas faced by UNHCR
Refugee camps had lots of genocide perpetrators.
Whether to withdraw from the operation or to continue was the biggestdilemma.
Refugee conventions were not followed
The camps had armed presence of interahemwe, Rwandan military
The camps were situated at sensitive borders.
Though the humanitarian challenge was severe, profiling of refugees should
have been done to filter out killers from innoncent people.
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The coverage of the event
Largely controlled reporting of the event
Many people in the U.K not too keen to know about what's happeningin obsure country like Rwanda
Media covered on South-Africa at that time
The country Borundi itself was facing huge crisis but not adequatelycovered and presented outside
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Thank You...
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Great lakes crisis-DemocraticRepublic of Congo
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Historical Background of Congo
Under the colonial rule of Belgium, gainedindependence in 1960.
Colonial interference in the Belgium
continued because of the economic interests. Secession plans for Katanga-a mineral rich
state of Congo was planned by Belgium
Mineral include Gold, Copper etc. Cold War Politics entered Africa
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Congo Crisis
Great lakes Humanitarian crisis had peaked in 1994
Goma city of Congo was the hub of humanitarian action
Congo herself as a state has suffered from issues like Conflict,Corruption and dictatorship
Joseph Mobutu ruled the country for three decades The new RPF government of Rwanda attacked Congo to tackle
the Hutu militias operating from that country.
Anti-Mobutu groups seized the opportunity and captured power,
Laurent Kabila was made president Rifts emerged within the groups, while Angola, Namibia and
Zimbabwe supported Kabila, Rwanda and Uganda backed therebel groups
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Between 1998 and 2002
The countries involved sign ceasefire in 1999.
UN force is authorised for overseeing ceasefirebut fighting continues between mainly
government and rebel groups and Uganda andRwandan forces
UN Panel-Conflict used as a tool by differentgroups for plundering resources like Gold,Diamond, timber and coltan used in makingmobile phones
Volcanic eruption near the city of Goma causes
large scale building collapse and misery
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The cost of the war
International Rescue committee(IRC) study in 2004published in Lancet(2006) states that 3.9 million peoplehave died in the conflict
Less than 2% of the deaths because of violence, most
because of the diseases which could have beenprevented.
Access to health care, lack of security cited as mainreasons for high mortality.
Further study in 2006-07 has raised the mortality figure to5.4 million excess deaths.
Majority of deaths because of infectious diseases,undernutrition, neo-natal, pregnancy related issues
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Continued
Population displacement,camp settings, socio economicconditions, health care infrastructure collapse, foodinsecurity all lead to deaths.
47% of all deaths were of children.
Public healthcare in many places has taken forms ofprivate and people are forced to pay for it
Spurious quality drugs from private companies
in circulation Education system struggling with quality issues,
human resource crunch
Secondarly level services further compromised
IASC l i f Cl h
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IASC evaluation of Cluster approachfollowed in Congo
Some of the positives were
The cluster approach helped in intra-cluster coordinationand information sharing
Humanitarian Coordinator's inclusion in the clusterapproach helped in having an overarching framework foroperations on field.
Staff were kept updated with progresses made in thehumanitarian field.
Networking, Information sharing amongst the differentagencies has improved.
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Continued
Some of issues of concern were
Standard operating procedures(SOPs) notclearly defined and the system needs furtherdecentralization.
Institutionalization of mechanisms needstrengthening.
Communication mechanisms were challenging
on many occasions. Close working of different agencies may some
times present a picture of they working with aparticular side and thus compromising their
neutrality.
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Continued...
In 1999, fighting countries signed peace accord called LusakaAccord
An important aspect of discussion was demand of withdrawal offoreign troops
In 2002, foreign troops were withdrawn
U.N and S.A sponsored talks between the ruling party and theother groups involved in conflict
As an important milestone for peace process, transitional
government was formed by all groups in 2003
Border security improved, DRC and Rwanda along with thehelp of other parties started verification process to check thethreats from elements of Interhamwe and ex-Far personnelpresent in those areas
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Continued...
U.S facilitated tripartite plus talks between the regional players
In 2006, elections were held for the first time
In 2007, DRC and Rwanda signed an agreement and decisionwas taken to not to support groups politically or with arms
Agreement signed between DRC and Uganda to remove LordResistance Army(LRA) from DRC
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The current times
UN and other Western countries tried to find agreementsto resolve the crisis in east Congo.
Rebel leader Laurent Nikunda, a major source of trouble inthe region, finally captured in 2009.
Conditions in east Congo still in fragile state which haspotential to destabilise peace in the great lakes area
The main reason being presence of armed forces in thearea
Armed groups operating in east
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Armed groups operating in eastCongo
Democratic forces for the Liberation of Rwanda(FDLR)
Former members of Interhamwe, Rwandan armed forces weregiven sanctuary in eastern Congo for many years
Attacks carried out against Rwanda and local congolese people
In the past support recieved support from Congolesegovernment and the army
Pressure being mounted now by UN,U.S and the europeancountries in the form of sanctions
National Congress for the Defence of People(CNDP)
Formerly led by Laurent Nkunda, stated its objective asprotecting the Tutsi population and fighting FDLR
Has weakened because of arrest of Nkunda
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Continued...The Allied Democratic Forces(ADF)
Ugandan Muslim rebel group with operations in Uganda andDRC
Congolese army crushed ADF but the war has left One hundredthousand people displaced.
Mai Mai Militia Congolese militia, no clear consistent political demands
Infamous for attacks on UN forces and mass rapes
The Lord's Resistance Army
Ugandan rebel group present in many countries in the regionincluding Congo. Government of Sudan nurtured theorganisation
Over the years, has weakened in strength
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