The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the massive displacement of civilians continues in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo) following recent clashes between armed groups. Since October 1, more than 145,000 people have fled the violence in Masisi and Rutshuru territories in North Kivu province, amid reports of pervasive human rights abuses.
âThat means that on average more than 8,000 people were forced to leave their homes every day. They need shelter, food, water and healthcare supportâ, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a press conference on Wednesday.
In its latest situation report, OCHA noted that these figures could increase with new displacements reported. Internally displaced people (IDPs) in the affected areas are facing urgent needs for food, water, shelter and healthcare. Health centers are overwhelmed and facing a shortage of medicines due to the lack of access for humanitarian organizations providing health care supplies and medicines.
People who have fled their homes are forced to drink untreated river water due to the lack of drinking water sources. The risk of water-borne diseases is high, and rapid assistance with water, hygiene and sanitation is required. The protection situation in both territories is also deteriorating.
OCHA said it is actively coordinating the emergency humanitarian response in collaboration with partners on the ground. At present, response efforts are focused on providing emergency assistance in areas where aid agencies have access, as well as on improving humanitarian access through negotiations with all involved parties.
âWe and our partners are providing assistance, including food, protection and nutritional support, as well as supplies, such as buckets and blankets,â Dujarric said.
The humanitarian situation in the eastern provinces of the DR Congo has reached devastating levels, as cyclical violence perpetrated by armed groups and subsequent displacement continues to impact millions of vulnerable civilians. As the conflict does not let up, people continue to be forced from their homes and the only shelter they can find is in makeshift camps and host communities.
The unrelenting cycle of violence has forced more than 3.3 million people into displacement since March 2022, when clashes between armed groups â mainly rebels from the M23 armed group - and government forces reignited. More than 1.5 million people have been forced to leave their homes in eastern DRC since January 2023.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is also sounding the alarm as escalating violence and pervasive human rights abuses in the eastern DR Congo trigger displacement, both within and outside the country.
âSouth Kivu province, which sits on the periphery of the primary conflict, has become home to 260,000 internally displaced people (IDPs). Protection monitoring has revealed a dramatic deterioration of the protection environment in the province, with 8,243 human rights violations reported in September alone, including killings, lootings and rapeâ, Valentin Tapsoba, Director at the UNHCR Regional Bureau for Southern Africa, said in a media briefing Tuesday.
Eastern DRC is home to multiple armed groups, including the rebel Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) force, the CODECO (Coopérative pour le développement du Congo) armed group, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, and Mai-Mai militants.
The UN Refugee Agency said disease outbreaks, particularly cholera and measles, continue to ravage IDP sites in North Kivu, exacerbated by overcrowding and lack of drinking water.
âOut of the 1 million people urgently requiring tarpaulin shelters in the eastern provinces, only 115,000 have received them since June. Meanwhile, children in dozens of schools in North Kivu remain out of school as their classrooms are used to shelter displaced families,â Tapsoba noted.
Despite a joint declaration to ramp up the emergency response, humanitarian organizations working in eastern DRC have only received the funding required to reach 2.7 million of the 5.5 million people in most urgent need.
In June this year, the worldâs top relief officials announced a system-wide scale-up that allowed humanitarian organizations to increase their operations in eastern DR Congo following months of relentless violence, displacement and rising humanitarian needs.
In recent months, humanitarian organizations have stepped up their operations. However, aid agencies urgently need additional financial support to continue and strengthen their operations. A severe lack of funding prevents any further program expansion to those IDPs with extreme needs.
UNHCR urgently called on the international community to step up efforts towards lasting peace for the DR Congo as well as resources needed to alleviate the suffering of displaced people in the eastern part of the country, and Congolese seeking refuge in neighboring countries.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world, and the situation in the country is one of the most neglected displacement crises globally. For decades, the country has endured multiple, overlapping emergencies driven mainly by conflict and forced displacement.
The DRC already suffers one of the largest displacement crises in Africa â after Sudan â due to the ongoing violence. 7.6 million people in the country have been forced to flee their homes. Among them are 6.3 internally displaced persons and 1.3 million refugees, that have sought safety in neighboring countries. In addition, DR Congo hosts some 500,000 refugees.
The majority of IDPs have fled their homes within the three eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu. The conflict in eastern DRC has caused an interlinked crisis, affecting food insecurity, malnutrition, health, education, as well as access to clean water and shelter.
While in the whole country some 26 million people are experiencing food insecurity, at least 6.7 million people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces. An estimated 2.8 million children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are acutely malnourished.
The UN estimates that 26.4 million people require humanitarian assistance in the country this year. Among them are 15.4 million children. In the three eastern provinces, 7.8 million women, men, and children are in need of humanitarian aid. Despite the magnitude of humanitarian needs and the scale up of humanitarian response capacity, humanitarian operations in the country are severely underfunded.
The 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for the Democratic Republic of the Congo calls for $2.3 billion to provide life-saving assistance. As of October, the HRP is only 36 percent funded. The 2023 Regional Refugee Response Plan for the DRC situation is currently funded at only 16 percent of the required USD 605 million.
Further information
Full text: ReÌpublique deÌmocratique du Congo - Nord-Kivu : Flash Update #3: DĂ©tĂ©rioration de la situation humanitaire dans les territoires de Masisi et Rutshuru, Nord-Kivu (17 octobre 2023), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, report, published October 17, 2023 (in French)
https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/republique-democratique-du-congo-nord-kivu-flash-update-3-deterioration-de-la-situation-humanitaire-dans-les-territoires-de-masisi-et-rutshuru-nord-kivu-17-octobre-2023
Full text: UNHCR expresses grave concern for the protection of people displaced by violence in eastern DR Congo; UNHCR, briefing notes, published October 17, 2023
https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-expresses-grave-concern-protection-people-displaced-violence-eastern-dr