Democratic Republic of Congo appeal

At Christmas 2006, 75,000 people in Katanga came home to no home at all.

After five long and brutal years, the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has claimed almost four million victims. In August 2006, our Emergency Response Team arrived in the eastern province of Katanga, where an estimated 160,000 people have been displaced. The area was so violent and fragile it has become known locally as the "Triangle of Death". Many women Concern spoke to said they walked for days with their children to escape the violence.

Now that the first elections in almost 40 years have taken place, millions of displaced people are returning to their villages, only to find they have been destroyed by fighting. Homes, schools and churches are in ruins, livestock and seeds stores are gone and people have nothing.

Concern is working in 64 villages in Katanga province, providing 75,000 people with resettlement kits containing blankets, clothes, cooking pots and mosquito nets. Concern is also giving people seeds and tools so they can grow their own food and become self-sufficient.

A major problem in the area is access, with many bridges and roads being destroyed in the war. This restricts trade between villages. Through our "cash for work" programme, Concern is rebuilding 18 bridges and 30 km of road.

A lot has been done in the past three months, but Concern needs help to continue this vital work.

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