An extension site has been identified but there is an urgent need for funding. A father passes his baby to mother as refugees arrive at Port of Kigoma. The camp, which is 90 kilometers east of the Lake Tanganyika port of Kigoma, is out of cooking pots and material for new shelters. Food rations have been reduced and, in order to maintain an adequate water supply, work is being done to expand a pipeline from a nearby river. Mortality rates at the camp are steadily climbing, especially among children.
Malaria is persistent, sporadic cases of meningitis have been found and pneumonia is on the rise.
More disease is likely to spread as more than 1,000 new refugees, many of them sick and hungry, pour into the camp each day. A peace agreement signed by six countries to end the fighting between Laurent Kabila's government and rebel forces has done nothing to slow the influx of refugees. According to the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, the number of people fleeing into Tanzania from eastern DRC has risen since the signing of the cease-fire agreement earlier this month. As a result the Logufu camp is in danger of being overwhelmed. We warned this could happen but the world's eyes were on the Balkans and nobody listened to us.