By Baraka John
A member of a civil society in Tombura County has raised alarm over worsening humanitarian conditions in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, reporting that five people, three elderly and two children, have died from hunger in the past week alone.
Mr. George Masi Benjamin, Secretary for the Civil Society Network in Tombura County and Executive Director of the Community Advancement and Initiative (CAI), made the grim announcement during an interview with King Media on Monday. He said thousands of IDPs are now surviving on wild mangoes, their only accessible food source.
Mr. Benjamin said despite relative peace in Tombura, displaced communities still live in fear. Noting the presence of armed men who are reportedly loitering in the villages, preventing the IDPs from returning to their farms.
“I don’t know how they are going to survive because the mangoes are going to finish, and children are going to school, because there is no food. If there is any support from humanitarian partners, please this is the very time we need to intervene”. Benjamin urged
The deaths have added urgency to calls for humanitarian support. Mr. Benjamin is appealing to government agencies, NGOs, and international partners to provide immediate food relief and basic supplies.
His concerns were echoed by 77-year-old IDP Mr. Nafuoni Tartizio, an IDP in Tombura, who confirmed to Anisa Radio the recent deaths and described the camps as overcrowded and lacking essential services.
“The civil communities that ran to the camps are suffering. Since the second wave of the conflict in 2024, up to now no humanitarian agent who has visit the IDPs. Last week, three elderly and two children died from hunger”. Nafuoni decried
Another displaced resident, Roy Andrea Dumbata, pleaded for emergency assistance as the rainy season begins.
“We need food, we need tarpaulins or anything to cover our heads. The shelters from last year are destroyed. We can’t survive the rains like this.”
Meanwhile, the Tombura County Relief and Rehabilitation coordinator, Lucy Edward, confirmed the dire living conditions of the displaced community.
Currently, there are 24,109 internally displaced persons sheltering in 11 camps in Tombura County.