Some 100,000 people have been uprooted from their homes since new clashes erupted in April
DAKAR – Tens of thousands of people who have fled renewed violence in eastern Congo are getting too little aid and face a humanitarian disaster without urgent assistance, the United Nations (U.N.) warned in a statement on Thursday.
Some 100,000 people have been uprooted from their homes since April and have sought refuge in localities within North Kivu and the neighbouring South Kivu, according to the U.N. office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA).
Thousands have fled to very remote and difficult-to-reach areas like forests and have not yet received aid, the U.N. said.
“The chaotic situation families are facing is disastrous,” Fidele Sarassoro, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Congo, said in a statement. “UN agencies and NGOs are ready to help, but we urgently need unimpeded access to the people.”
Displaced people are in urgent need of food, water, and medical assistance to prevent the spread of contagious diseases such as cholera and measles.
Fighting erupted in North Kivu in April when hundreds of former rebels who had been integrated to the Congolese national army deserted after President Joseph Kabila announced plans to arrest renegade commander Bosco Ntaganda.
Ntaganda is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) wants for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Since the beginning of the North Kivu crisis, much of the humanitarian assistance has been delivered to the more easily accessible internally displaced people (IDPs) in camps around Goma, the chief town of the province, and to the refugees living in Rwanda and Uganda.
Close to 21,000 people have crossed into the two neighbouring countries, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said this week.
“There is no shortage of capacity, the issue for us is access and money so that we can roll out more aid,” said Sarassoro.
Aid organisations estimate that current funding levels will not allow a sustained response if the crisis persists.
(Editing by Maria Caspani)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
