Civil war in the Congo Brazzaville has been responsible for the death of thousands of innocent people with over 800,000 being displaced and deprived of basic humanitarian needs. Sexual abuse of women and children was endemic leaving many victims suffering from trauma. The conflict has created massive humanitarian needs for the affected population and there is need for the international community to help.

After the signing of the peace accord in September 1999 thousands of people started returning to their homes, but the people had lost most, if not all, of their possessions and were returning to destroyed homes. Food, water, medicines, clothing and shelter are the major basic requirements of the affected population.

In March of this year ACT coordinating office sent an assessment team to Congo Brazzaville to examine the extent of the humanitarian catastrophe, damage to infrastructure in the country and also assess the capacity of the ACT members in the country to respond to the humanitarian needs. The team strongly recommended that ACT should be involved in providing humanitarian assistance in Congo Brazzaville as thousands of people were living in desperate conditions which would be difficult to survive without help.

The Council of Christian Churches in Congo Brazzaville (COECC) along with its implementing partner Christian Action for Development and Assistance (ACDA) are the strongest ACT members in Congo Brazzaville and are proposing to respond with much needed life sustaining assistance. Christian Aid will accompany COECC in their emergency response programs to help build local capacity.

The proposed areas of response are as follows;

• Food and non-food
• Shelter
• Health & Hygiene
• Water & Sanitation
• Agriculture
• Infrastructure

However, some of the activities have been budgeted in lump sum amounts, but as soon as a break down of these are received they will be made available to all interested. The person seconded from Christian Aid will assist in this process as part of their capacity building responsibilities and improvement of COECC finance management.

Implementation period: June 2000 to May 2001

Signed by:
Thor-Arne Prois, ACT Coordinator
Geneviève Jacques, Director, Cluster on Relations, World Council of Churches
Rudolf Hinz, Director, Department for World Service, Lutheran World Federation

REQUESTING MEMBER

• Council of Christian Churches in Congo Brazzaville (COECC)

IMPLEMENTING MEMBER

• Christian Action for Development and Assistance (ACDA)

IMPLEMENTNG MEMBER INFORMATION

ACDA is the implementing agent of COECC's initiatives in the area of socio-economic development. It aims to provide assistance to projects that build community activities and help the most vulnerable members of society.

COECC was fully involved in assistance work during the following events :

• 1993-1994 events: food distribution in the city of Brazzaville
• after the 1997 war: distribution of food and clothes to victims (displaced or vulnerable) in reception centres.

ACDA cooperates with other NGOs in those areas, and has good relationships with national and international institutions based in Congo, through COECC. ACDA's work is done in cooperation with other COECC member churches' and other NGOs on the ground. CARITAS, ASU and other NGOs are assisting in disaster zones with medical assistance, nutrition, family reunion and rehabilitation of victims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMERGENCY SITUATION

The Republic of the Congo situated in Central Africa in the Equatorial region covers 342,000 square kilometers and has a population of 2.6 million people. The country is endowed with natural resources with about 60-70 % of the land covered with tropical forests. It is rich in oil, natural gas, potassium, lead, copper, zinc, iron, diamonds, phosphates and gold.

Administratively, the country is sub-divided into 11 regions which are Bouenza, Brazzaville, la Cuvette, la Cuvette-ouest, le Kouilou, la Lekoumou, la Likouala, la Niari, le Pool, la Sangha et les Plateaux.

The fighting in the country has mainly been by the three militia factions, the Cobras in the Plateaux region and North of the country, the Ninjas in the pool region, and the Cocoyes in the Lekoumou, Niari, and Bouenza regions. The rebellion began in 1997 allegedly by the Cobras attacking the Cocoyes and the Ninjas. The Cobras won the initial phase as the Cocoyes and the Ninjas fled. A lull in the fighting allowed the latter two factions to try and settle long enough to grow crops, but the Cobras pursued them into the forest. They reformed and attacked the Cobras, who were themselves forced back over the ground they had taken.

In December 1998 the Ninjas attacked Brazzaville itself, with very heavy fighting and much damage to property and buildings in the capital. The government forces counter attacked the Ninjas and managed to push them into the pool region south and west of Brazzaville driving with them thousands of innocent civilians. Meanwhile, the civilians in these regions of the fighting were killed, maimed, and women and children were mainly subjects of severe sexual abuses.

The war has been brutal and severe and its effect can be summarised as follows;

• exodus of more than 800,000 inhabitants to forests, southern parts of the country and neighbouring countries (DRC, Gabon)
• Killing of thousands of people and massive abuse of women and children causing terrible traumatic conditions.
• destruction and looting of thousands of houses, administrative and business centres
• destruction of bridges, water supplies points and electrical networks
• lack of medical care and adequate feeding, resulting in numerous deaths of children and adults
• psychological effects (trauma, vengeance, desire to leave the country etc.)
• disruption of secondary and university studies.

Since the peace agreements and cease-fire, President Sassou Ngessou has had a firm grip on power with the assistance of the Angolan troops, the army and his own militiamen. There is a genuine wish for peace by the population and people are returning to their places of origin, which is leading to the progressive close down of camp sites in Brazzaville. People are able to move around again and commercial exchanges have started in the disaster zones.

However, people going back to their villages and those returning to urban areas are destitute. The devastation of civil life is such that emergency relief is needed to enable the most affected to "get back on their feet" and restart their livelihood.

Location for proposed response
The present appeal is for the main towns of Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire, Dolisie, Nkayi as well as some other secondary towns and villages in the regions of Pool, Bouenza, Lékoumou and Niari.

Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire are focus areas for coordination of the assistance. Other areas considered suitable with already existing structures are Dolisie, Nkayi, Sibiti, Kinkala, Mindouli, Madzia, localities. In these areas, there is already presence of International NGOs and or member organisations of COECC.

Statistics
The internal conflict that started on 18 December 1998 lasted for about a year until September 1999 when the cease-fire agreements were signed in Pointe-Noire. Many of the 800,000 displaced people returned and some are still returning to their homes amidst fear of being victims of the conflict. The following is a break down of return population by area:

Current security
As fighting had ceased, there is relative calm and peace in most areas including the areas targeted for humanitarian assistance by the ACT members. Humanitarian organisations are moving around freely. Several urban centres are accessible by train: Dolisie and Nkayi via Pointe-Noire, Madzia and Mindouli via Brazzaville. Access by road is also possible, although bridges need to be repaired in some areas.

GOAL & OBJECTIVES

Goal: The main goal is to improve the health and living conditions of the most vulnerable war affected persons.

Objectives:

• Improve the health of the population
• Assist with relocating people and provision of basic domestic equipment
• Assist the most vulnerable with basic humanitarian needs and enable them to return to their normal lives.
• Assist the target beneficiaries in crop production in order to improve their food security
• Repair of damaged social infrastructure.

TARGETED BENEFICIARIES

The project targets about 180,000 displaced and disaster victims in seven different locations and the criteria for selection is given below.

Criteria for selection:

• widows and households, with several young children without support
• sexually abused women who have been traumatized by their experiences and are without assistance
• women who are head of households and are taking care of a large number of children.
• handicapped, elderly, sick
• orphans and abandoned or non accompanied children (ENA)
• pregnant women from poor families
• disaster/displaced victims who are homeless

Number and location of persons to be assisted

PROPOSED ASSISTANCE

ACDA wishes to focus its assistance on following activities:

Medical care (assisting around 50,000 persons)

• support to existing health centres with essential medicines
• offer of free treatment
• disinfection of wells (15 sources and 5 wells)

Relief Food (200,000 persons)

• provision of relief food to recuperation and rehabilitation centres
• distribution of foodstuffs in disaster zone parishes to helpless people
• Special feeding to the malnourished and follow up programs.

Clothing (around 132,000 persons)

• distribution of clothes to people returning from the forests with virtually no clothes on.

Shelter (200 families)

• construction of temporary houses
• minimal repair of destroyed houses
• distribution of plastic sheeting, blankets, plates, mattresses and cooking utensils ( for round 5,000 persons)

Rehabilitation

• Rehabilitation of schools and health centres

Agriculture (food security)

• distribution of seeds and tools mainly for vegetable production
• provision of livestock for breeding purposes, including chickens, pigs, cows and fish farming

Social and Economic Activities

• dressmaking workshops
• carpentry and building material fabrication (bricks)
• provision of school materials such as exercise books, pens, etc.

Infrastructure

• assistance for bridge repairs (11 bridges in Pool, 9 in Bouenza, 6 in Niari and 4 in Lékoumou).

Implementation Description by Activity

Emergency Medical Assistance
Medicines will be purchased locally and if not available locally will be purchased from abroad and will be stored in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire centres then dispatched to the target regions.

This operation necessitates rental of appropriate premises to preserve the medicines and will be under the care of the of head doctor of the "Health and Nutrition" sector with the help of an assistant based in Pointe-Noire and nurses in other centers.

Food Assistance
Foodstuff from abroad will be transported to Point-Noire or Brazzaville either by plane or ship. Temporary labor will be necessary for handling and distribution. The doctor and nutritionist will be responsible for this operation. NGOs working in the areas will be asked to assist. Premises will be found, preferably within parishes or Salvation Army's posts, for storage and distribution.

Clothing and School Supplies
The "Clothing" section will also be responsible for distributing school supplies. A temporary voluntary worker will be required. ACDA branch offices will work in collaboration with parish leaders and school directors.

Relocation and House Equipment
Selected young people will be trained to install tents in the various localities. Local craftsmen will be hired for repair of damaged houses. These operations will mainly be in rural areas. Very strict criteria will be applied to target beneficiaries.

Bridge repair and Water points
ACDA will subcontract professional technical workers with relevant experience in this field to build and repair bridges. In the water sector, an assessment will be made to determine the number of wells needing purification and installation of new pumps and the number of new wells needing to be constructed.

Socio-economic rehabilitation of populations
Micro projects will be promoted as Income Generating Projects for the selected beneficiaries and especially the young people. These will first require training in the projects of interest and then helped to set up their own businesses. The concept of cooperatives will be encouraged.

ADMINISTRATION

The programme will be administered by the Executive Committee of ACDA, and implemented by COECC, composed of 6 members. The Executive Committee of ACDA is the permanent administration and coordination body. Christian Aid will second staff to COECC to strengthen its capacity especially in the area of finance and logistics. ACT will also attempt to sensitize the emergency situation in Congo Brazzaville through video production.

The Executive Committee of ACDA will put in place the following specialized sectors:

• "Health and Nutrition" team, with a doctor and a nutritionist
• "Housing and Clothing" team, with two responsible people, one for each area
• "Social Sector " team, with an economist and a sociologist
• specialized teachers
• "water and sanitation" team

The administration will also have one accountant, driver and security guards for the project.

The ACDA financial management procedures will be followed with the President and his Vice and the Secretary for Finances as signatories to the bank account. Accounting principles will be followed and ACT reporting requirements will be followed.

COORDINATION

ACDA is a member of the humanitarian organizations body in the country which includes, UNDP, WHO, UNICEF, WFP and other NGOs. These meet regularly to discuss various issues on humanitarian assistance in the country including best ways of ensuring effective coordination.

PROJECT BUDGET

EXPENDITURE