Congo-Kinshasa: DR Congo Crisis Not Just Regional Concern, ‘But Global Responsibility,’ Says UN Official

Geneva — The humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is “not just a regional concern but a global responsibility,” a UN spokesperson said Tuesday.

Matthew Saltmarsh, global spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said at a press conference the situation in the DRC is deteriorating, with nearly half a million people displaced in North and South Kivu provinces in January alone.

“Hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee multiple active conflict zones, and the capacity to accommodate and assist those in need is saturated,” said Saltmarsh.

“Many of these individuals have fled violent attacks, including the use of heavy artillery targeting internally displaced person sites—spaces intended to provide safety and refuge.”

He said several sites on the outskirts of Goma, housing more than 300,000 displaced people, had emptied within a few hours due to fighting.

The eastern part of the DRC at Goma, previously a refuge for hundreds of thousands of displaced people, is now at the centre of a conflict growing daily, with escalating conflict, further endangering lives, he said.

“There are growing protection concerns as hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced in and around Goma,” Shelley Thakral of the World Food Programme said at the press conference.

— Limited access to food

She said that many people are exposed to gender-based violence and with limited access to food, safe and clean drinking water, and an income – the risks facing the populations will increase in such volatile conditions.

Thakral said even before the recent escalation of violence, some 5.1 million people in Ituri, North and South Kivu, had been displaced, forced into overcrowded camps with little food and no security.

At the press conference, Jens Laerke of the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also noted reports of gender-based violence and rape committed by fighters, the looting of property, including a humanitarian warehouse, and that humanitarian and health facilities were hit.

“Hospitals in Goma are reportedly overwhelmed,” said Laerke. “Electricity and water supplies are compromised, and yesterday, internet services were cut off, and Goma was still offline this morning.”

Laerke said that since the flare-up of hostilities at the beginning of the year, hundreds of thousands of people have attempted to flee the violence, including the 700,000 people already displaced and living in dire conditions on the outskirts of Goma.

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Dr. Adelheid Marschang, World Health Organization emergency coordinator for the DRC, said the WHO is especially worried “for the health and safety of women and girls who are at a higher risk of violence, including rape.”

She said, “Pregnant women are at risk, with very high maternal death rates, even before the violence escalated.

“Capacities to deal with the newly injured are stretched and WHO is working with authorities and partners to identify solutions and to increase local capacities to deal with this.”

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