IDP in Kabembe Camp in Kalemie have been waiting to go back home for years in Tanganyika Province DRC

Kabembe Internally Displaced Camp set up in 2017, people want to go back to their original villages but they do not have means of transport

Kabembe IDP Camp is located in Taba Congo Village, Eastern Kalemie City, Tanganyika Province, it hosts mostly Internally Displaced Persons who ran away Ethnic Conflict between Twa (Pygmies) and the Bantu. The Camp was established in 2017 and it located on a private land.

Now the war ended in various villages where people came from, but all those in this camp especially the most vulnerable people such as elderly people, poor and single women, people with disability and unaccompanied minors are still in this camp waiting for Good Samaritan to facilitate their return. People here no longer get relief aid, in most cases they now live on looking for these stones which they sell and get some money but also these stones are now rare to get. These stones are used in construction.

In order to make the situation worse the Provincial Government in Tanganyika made it illegal for people to leave the Camp and return on their own. According to the Policy in place people should benefit from the support either from International Organizations or from the Government.

The only answer from the Provincial Government is that there is no money because the current priority of the Government is towards the war in Kivu. On the other side the International Organizations claim they do not have the funds and many already closed their offices and left.

We need a Round-Table in this Province which will focus on the current humanitarian crisis, look at the existing policies, the opportunities and approaches that can be considered in order to solve all these problems. Such initiative will bring together Government Officers in all the six Territories, the United Nations Agencies, International Organizations, local Organizations, the Civil Society, cultural leaders, religious leaders, the media and donors among others.

We humbly calling upon partners to support us in order to organize such a Round-Table which will be the very first one and which will pave a way to the new humanitarian response in the province and serve as a model for the entire country.

As per now, we have 18 IDP Camps in the whole Tanganyika Province among them 13 are for IDPs victims of the wars between Twa and Bantu, one for the flood victims and four 4 for the victims of the current war in Kivu by M23 backed by Rwanda.

The heavy rains which destroyed people’s house since 2021 up to 2024 seems to have reduced and we can observe that both Lake Tanganyika and Lukuga River have gone down towards their natural banks. We are monitoring this change up to May next year 2026 when people can be fully encouraged to go back to their homes.

The conflicts between Twaa (Pygmies) and Bantu have also reduced and efforts are being deployed to restore peace totally, more activities for peace should be encouraged. People should be encouraged to go back to their villages and efforts should now focus on community development and economic empowerment through agriculture and other activities.

This is why we need more partners to support our activities.

Thanks