
RDC: “la banque centrale enquête sur l’existence de faux billets 5000 / 10 000 / 20 000 FC et donne des éléments pr reconnaître les vrais” (19.02.2017)







Kinshasa, 11 February 2017 – MONUSCO is concerned about the persistent conflict in the Kasais which is marked by violent atrocities committed by the Kamuina Nsapu militia including their recruitment and use of child soldiers whilst targeting symbols and institutions of State authority as well as the disproportionate use of force by the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) in their response to the situation. Particularly, since 9 February 2017, there have been ongoing clashes between Kamuina Nsapu militia and Congolese Security Forces within the area of Tshimbulu (160 Kilometers South East of Kananga) with unconfirmed reports of between 30 to 50 deaths resulting from these clashes.
Maman S. Sidikou, the Special Representative of the Secretary General and Head of MONUSCO, strongly condemns the actions of the Kamuina Nsapu militia in recruiting and using child soldiers as well as their acts of violence against the State. He expresses his concern about repeated reports of the disproportionate use of force by the FARDC and offers the Mission’s support to a credible investigation of this regrettable situation. He regrets the deaths and injuries suffered in these clashes and calls upon the Congolese Security Forces to act in line with acceptable standards of national and international laws in their response to the situation.
Since the outbreak of this crisis about six months ago, MONUSCO has sought to effectively support the Congolese authorities in addressing the situation at national and provincial levels. In addition to several engagements by the Special Representative at the political and security levels, the Mission has reinforced its civilian and uniformed personnel presence in the area. The Mission has also deployed one of its Mobile Monitoring Response Team in the area (Tshikapa, Dibaya, Bunkode, Tshimbulu and Luiza) to possibly prevent, investigate and document human rights violations in line with its mandate.
Note to Editors:
Following the decision of the Security Council in early 2014, MONUSCO redeployed most of its resources to Eastern DRC in 2014. There was also a drastic reduction of military and civilian personnel affecting the Mission’s presence in Kananga given the improved security situation at the time. Presently, the Mission has since December 2016, deployed a Military Company of soldiers in Kananga (Kasai central) with the task of protecting the Mission’s personnel and assets as well as carrying out Protection of Civilians.

The Drought Situation
The Horn of Africa is in the midst of a major drought resulting from La Niña and reduced moisture influx due to the cooling of the ocean water in the east African coast. Whilst Member States of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) are adept at managing droughts, what makes the current drought alarming in the Equatorial Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) region is that it follows two consecutive poor rainfall seasons in 2016 and the likelihood of depressed rainfall persisting into the March – May 2017 rainfall season remains high. The most affected areas include, most of Somalia, South-eastern Ethiopia, Northern Eastern and coastal Kenya, and Northern Uganda.
The climate predictions and early warnings produced by IGAD through advanced scientific modeling and prediction tools, which were provided to Member States and the general public, have elicited early actions (preparedness and mitigation measures). Highly comparable to the 2010 GHA drought, the current depressed rainfall and resultant poor vegetation conditions since March 2016 eroded the coping and adaptive capacities of the affected people. It also depleted water points, reduced crops, forages and livestock production, increased food insecurity, and adversely affected the livelihoods of vulnerable communities in the region.
The number of food insecure human population in the region is currently estimated at 17 million. Certain areas in South Sudan and Djibouti are already under an emergency food insecurity phase, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) classification scale. In Somalia, the number of food insecure people doubled in the last year alone.
In the drought affected cropping lands (over Deyr area in Somalia and coastal Kenya), 70 to 100 percent crop failure has been registered. Livestock mortality has been particularly devastating amongst small ruminants with mortality rate ranging from 25 to 75 percent in the cross border areas of Somalia-Kenya-Ethiopia. In addition, livestock prices have dropped by as much as 700 percent.
Terms of trade have declined in the region, with Ethiopia registering a figure of almost 10 percent. This is exacerbated by a substantial negative impact on external balances, as well as a small impact on financial sector-soundness in the other countries. The overall impact on fiscal positions is a likely increase in current budget spending and deterioration in the fiscal balance and weak adaptation capacity.
Despite the downtrend in global agriculture commodity prices, the drought has resulted in an increase in domestic food prices in the region. Cereal prices (e.g. maize) have gone up by about 130 percent, while those of critical food items such as oils, beans and wheat flour increased by at least 50 percent in some pastoralist areas. The limited financial and institutional capacity for effective adaptation to reduce exposure and vulnerability will result in limited safety net to the most vulnerable households.
Drought Response in the Horn of Africa
With the early warning and technical assistance provided by IGAD, Member States have initiated early action to mitigate the adverse impact of the current drought.
Somalia and South Sudan have declared drought emergencies. Kenya announced a doubling of expenditure on food relief to ease the pressure in the drought-affected counties, while Uganda shifted some of its development resources to finance emergency response in order to address food insecurity and livelihood protection. In Somalia, the President of the Federal Republic, as well as state and regional administrations led the issuance of appeals for support and coordinated actors and efforts that scaled-up food security activities to respond to the humanitarian needs of the country.
The USD 730 million allocated by the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia boosted the response effort which, coupled by an above-average meher harvest, resulted to an almost 50 percent reduction in the number of food insecure people, for example, from 10.2 million to 5.6 million.
IGAD continues to reinforce the actions of its Member States using them as guide for complementary action on drought responses. Below are some of the major actions being undertaken by the IGAD Secretariat and its specialized institutions to manage the drought in the region:
Through the IGAD Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI) Platform, the ultimate purpose and objective of IGAD and its Member States is to mitigate the adverse effects of disasters through building resilience of relevant national institutions, communities and people, to end drought emergencies and contribute to the achievement of sustainable development in the region.
In this regard, IGAD will remain vigilant in monitoring and advising the people of the region on the drought situation through its’ specialized institution, the IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC) domiciled in Nairobi, and shall continue to support and complement regional and national actions on drought response and recovery.




