The ICRC has been working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since 1978. It has a delegation in Kinshasa, sub-delegations in Goma, Bukavu and Lubumbashi, and offices in Kisangani, Mbuji-Mayi, Uvira and Kalemie.

The ICRC’s work in the DRC includes restoring family links, protecting people deprived of their liberty and protecting civilians. Its delegates help vulnerable people, displaced persons and those returning to their homes following displacement, by distributing basic necessities, supporting medical facilities, improving access to drinking water and setting up or reviving agricultural and fish farming activities. The ICRC also disseminates the basic rules of international humanitarian law (IHL) as widely as possible and it supports the relief work of the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (CRRDC).

Restoring family links

The ICRC has continued its traditional work of restoring links between family members who have lost contact as a result of armed conflict, other violent situations, or their direct consequences. People who had no other means of restoring or maintaining links with their families were given the opportunity to use the Red Cross message network, which the ICRC runs with the help of the National Society. The ICRC continued to identify unaccompanied children and former child soldiers so as to put them back in touch with their families – and reunite them where this was in the child’s best interests.

The ICRC:

• collected 61,488 Red Cross messages and delivered 54,270;
• reunited 473 unaccompanied children with their families, including 155 former child soldiers;
• is handling 379 cases of unaccompanied children, including 74 former child soldiers;
• processed 812 tracing requests, of which 413 were successful; 452 are still being processed.

Visits to people deprived of their liberty

The ICRC continued to visit people in permanent and temporary places of detention, mainly in the east of the DRC in Katanga and Kinshasa, to promote humane treatment and conditions of detention in keeping with Congolese law and minimum international standards. Visits to people held by the National Council for the Defence of the People (CNDP) were also made in North Kivu.

Detainees who come under the ICRC's mandate and are considered particularly vulnerable are monitored throughout their time in custody. In particular, these include people arrested or detained in connection with an armed conflict or other violent situation, or for reasons of State security.

As in its other theatres of operations, the ICRC repeats its visits to detainees and holds private interviews with them, while maintaining a confidential and constructive dialogue with the detaining authorities.

The ICRC:

• carried out 133 visits to 45 places of detention;
• individually monitored 771 detainees that came within its ICRC mandate;
• collected 3,072 Red Cross messages from detainees and distributed 2,322 to detainees, in order to restore contact between them and their families;
• continued to distribute soap, basic medicine and additional food to the most vulnerable detainees whenever necessary, while constantly reminding the authorities of their duty to meet the needs of all detainees.

Protection of the civilian population in areas affected by armed violence

In the eastern provinces of the country, where civilians continued to suffer the effects of armed conflict and other violent situations, the ICRC maintained its constant presence on the ground and its proximity to the population. The organization endeavoured to help them and to prevent attacks on their lives and dignity, by talking to arms bearers and by promoting compliance with humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles.

Health

The ICRC continued to provide assistance for health centres and hospitals, and to run its limb-fitting, surgical, physiotherapy and rape-victim support programmes.

In particular, the ICRC:

• supported several health centres in North Kivu, South Kivu and Katanga, which carried out:
  - 19,721 curative consultations;
  - 20,043 vaccinations;

• supported several hospitals in North and South Kivu, Katanga and Kinshasa, which:
  - carried out 40,516 curative out-patient consultations;
  - conducted 4,000 operations;
  - admitted 11,149 in-patients requiring treatment for internal medical disorders;
  - provided various forms of care for 1,521 war casualties;

• provided medical and surgical treatment for 91 patients with osteomyelitis in Panzi hospital (South Kivu), plus over 980 physiotherapy sessions. The ICRC surgeon and physiotherapist are continuing to train nursing staff.
• renovated Matchumbi health centre (North Kivu);
• renovated Bunyakiri general hospital (South Kivu).

Support for victims of sexual violence

874 women received care in 23 ICRC-supported centres for victims of sexual violence in North and South Kivu; 99 of these women arrived within 72 hours of being raped and were therefore able to receive preventive care (PEP kit).

In connection with the armed conflict in North and South Kivu, the ICRC has:

• supported 22 health facilities (health centres, reference health centres and hospitals), so that they could care for the wounded and assist internally displaced persons;
• provided two ICRC surgeons to help Congolese doctors treat the most serious cases; the two surgeons were later replaced by an ICRC medical team consisting of a surgeon, a nurse and a physiotherapist;
• installed a water supply for the operating theatre, maternity unit and laboratory at Katindo military hospital, Goma;
• built a sterilization unit, incinerator and placenta pit at the same hospital.

Physical rehabilitation programme

The ICRC renewed its service-provision contracts with five physical rehabilitation centres spread across the country: the Kalembelembe limb-fitting centre of the DRC Red Cross and the rehabilitation centre for the physically disabled, both in Kinshasa; the Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Kansele hospital in Mbuji-Mayi; the Heri-Kwetu centre in Bukavu and the Shirika-La-Umoja centre in Goma.

All these centres provide high-quality physical rehabilitation for civilian and military war-wounded. Between them, they:

• provided physical rehabilitation services for 947 people;
• manufactured 778 artificial limbs (including 116 for mine victims);
• manufactured 397 orthotic devices (including 32 for mine victims);
• supplied 1,170 crutches and 15 tricycles.

The ICRC paid for three Congolese technicians to attend a month-long training course on the production of artificial limbs and orthotic devices at the ICRC centre in Addis Ababa.
60 crutches and 4 tricycles were distributed to recent victims of the conflict with the help of the ICRC medical team in North Kivu.

Basic necessities and agricultural support for farmers

Many families have lost everything in the conflict. They are struggling to survive and to rejoin society and the economy.

The ICRC therefore assisted several groups by running agricultural and fisheries projects in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Katanga:

• 14,458 families in North and South Kivu (72,290 people in all) received essential items (blankets, clothing, tools, tarpaulins, mats, mosquito nets, soap, buckets, jerrycans, kitchen utensils, etc.);
• 9,098 farming families received seed, manioc cuttings and ploughing tools and/or training;
• 1,365 families belonging to 39 fisheries associations received alevins, equipment for the renovation of their fishponds, fishing equipment and/or training in fish farming techniques.

Facilitating access to water

The ICRC works together with local authorities, including REGIDESO (a public corporation supplying drinking water in towns) and the national rural water board (Service national de l’hydraulique rural, SNHR), to improve access to drinking water.

In addition, the ICRC and local water committees cooperate in planning and carrying out projects in the countryside.

Completed projects:

In North Kivu, the ICRC:

• extended the Kirumba water-supply system to Kayina (50,000 beneficiaries);
• repaired the Pinga water-supply system (13,000 beneficiaries);
• built a new pumping station in Keshero that will supply water for Ndosho and Katindo (200,000 beneficiaries).

In South Kivu, the ICRC:

• laid water mains in five villages in Langala (25,000 beneficiaries);
• provided a system for improving water quality (ventilator + pressurized filter) in the town of Uvira, in Kalundu (15,000 beneficiaries);
• laid water mains at Burinyi, Mwenga territory (10,000 beneficiaries);
• repaired pipes connecting springs with the Kawa-Funu water-treatment plant in Bukavu, which is operated by REGIDESO (20,000 beneficiaries);
• repaired 23 wells in the Ruzizi plain (18,000 beneficiaries).

In Katanga, the ICRC:

• repaired the Kongolo water-production unit (56,500 beneficiaries);
• built 10 wells around Lake Upemba (20,000 beneficiaries in five villages).

In Kinshasa, the ICRC:

• trained 13 REGIDESO personnel and 10 from the SNDE (Congo-Brazzaville) in the use and maintenance of pumps and other items of equipment in water-treatment plants and pumping stations.

The ICRC continued to promote awareness of international humanitarian law (IHL) among arms bearers, the authorities and the general public.

National and international authorities
The ICRC held a seminar in Kinshasa for 25 members of the National Assembly, to develop an awareness of IHL and its implementation in the DRC.

Provincial and local authorities

• held two information sessions for 116 members of the Katanga and South Kivu provincial assemblies;
• organized three sessions for 299 local officials in Saké (Masisi territory), Kalembe and Rutshuru territory (North Kivu), Kilumbe on Lake Upemba and the Kongolo area (Katanga).

National Army

The following attended IHL awareness-raising sessions:

• 2,207 officers from operational units and military regions;
• 3,347 national army officers in brassage centres;
• 100 trainees (officers and NCOs) from the Banana naval college;
• 112 trainee officers from the Kananga officers’ training college;
• 284 staff officers undergoing training at the higher military college group (Groupement des écoles supérieures militaires, GESM);
• 1,677 Republican Guard officers.

20 instructors attended a week’s course for IHL training staff held at the GESM.

Forces of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC)
161 officers, NCOs and men of the Beninese battalion based in Kalemie attended IHL awareness events, as did 17 officers from the Pakistani battalion based at Bukavu.

National police and security forces

The ICRC:

• held 12 sessions on humanitarian principles and human rights for 816 members of the national police;
• organized a session in Kinshasa for 140 officers and senior staff of the criminal investigation department training college.

Civil society and the media

The ICRC:

• held two sessions on IHL and action against international crimes for judges and lawyers;
• organized two IHL sessions for 74 human rights defenders and MONUC protection officers;
• ran four information sessions for 273 members of civil society from South Kivu, from Moba Port (Katanga), Kisangani (Orientale), Goma and Baraza la Wazee (North Kivu) and for civil servants and representatives of local associations and NGOs in Mwenga (South Kivu) and Kisangani;
• organized six awareness events for students at the universities of Goma, Uélé, Isiro and Kananga and the Higher Educational Institute (Institut supérieur pédagogique, ISP) of Bukavu;
• held two IHL awareness events for 84 journalists;
• issued 23 press releases to local and international media.

During 2007, the ICRC provided financial support and technical assistance in the following areas:

Restoring family links

The ICRC:

• provided financial support for 3 national coordinators, 16 provincial coordinators and 319 volunteer messengers, to ensure the smooth running of the National Society's tracing service;
• donated eight motorcycles and five repair kits to provide mobility for tracing volunteers;
• enabled provincial coordinators to undertake 48 field trips, in order to supervise 195 Red Cross message offices;
• held a workshop for 16 provincial coordinators;
• ran seven refresher courses in five provinces, attended by 130 volunteers;
• financed the second stage of the project for transferring financial skills, to help the National Society's tracing service to work independently.

CRRDC national coordinators:

• helped to run refresher courses for tracing volunteers from the Bas-Congo;
• made field trips to Bandundu province every three months.

Emergency preparedness and response

The ICRC:

• financed the petrol and servicing of the 11 motorbikes of the heads of provincial disaster management divisions, plus 11 tours of inspection by these heads of division;
• trained 355 casualty evacuation team leaders;
• trained 102 community-based first-aid trainers in the 11 provinces;
• donated identification material (tabards, flags and badges), teaching aids and pharmaceutical products to the National Society;
• supplied 70 first-aid kits.

Dissemination/communication

The ICRC:

• donated awareness-raising material and documentation to the National Society's headquarters;
• coached 302 CRRDC dissemination officers to become trainers;
• trained 100 persons in awareness-raising in Bandundu and Kasai Occidental;
• supported 38 dissemination sessions for outside participants, covering all 11 provinces.

Assistance to those most in need

The ICRC financed 17 CRRDC micro-projects.

Structural support

The ICRC:

• helped to organize a meeting of the National Society’s central committee;
• produced 5,000 copies of the National Society’s legal documents;
• supported training for 30 managers from the general secretariat and the supervisory board of the CRRDC, covering the functioning of the National Society and leadership;
• provided three motorbikes for the provincial committees of Bandundu, Maniema and Équateur;
• supported field trips by members of the supervisory board to Bas-Congo and Kasai Occidental to supervise provincial committees;
• provided support for the staff of the Secretariat General to enable them to attend statutory meetings in Geneva.

Implementation of statutes

• Eleven extraordinary provincial meetings were convened to elect officers.
• Governance training was provided for 220 members of the newly elected committees.