Urgent humanitarian response needed to unprecedented crises in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo (28.06.2019)

General view of the ISP camp for internally displaced people next to the General Hospital in Bunia.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is supporting the local ministry of health to provide medical care and respond to the most acute needs of the displaced in Drodro, Nizzi and Bunia.

GENEVA, Switzerland, June 28, 2019 – Multiple humanitarian crises are unfolding in Ituri province, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and hundreds of thousands of people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, according to international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The recent upsurge in violence across the regions of Djugu, Mahagi and Irumu have forced thousands to flee their homes. Despite MSF’s repeated calls on international aid organisations to scale up humanitarian aid, the majority of the displaced still haven’t received even the most basic assistance.“Unfortunately, this is not the first time there are important humanitarian needs in the country,” explains Dr Moussa Ousman, MSF Head of Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “This time we are seeing not only mass displacement due to violence but also a rapidly spreading measles outbreak and an Ebola epidemic that shows no signs of slowing down, all at the same time. This is unprecedented.”

Intercommunal violence has been increasing in Ituri since December 2017, and the large majority of people displaced as a result have been in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, some for more than a year. Since October 2018, MSF has conducted three mortality surveys in the locations of Drodro, Nozzi and Angumu. All showed that the mortality rates in these communities were far above emergency levels.

“Our surveys show that people are mainly dying from preventable diseases such as malaria, measles and diarrhoea,” says Dr Ousman. “That is very worrying. Especially as it has not yet been possible to vaccinate against measles because of the ongoing Ebola outbreak, and the fear of Ebola further spreading. Together with the ministry of health, we are looking at what innovative strategies we can implement given the circumstances, but more help is urgently needed here to prevent more deaths.”

MSF is supporting the local ministry of health to provide medical care and respond to the most acute needs of the displaced in Drodro, Nizzi and Bunia. Our teams are also providing clean water, distributing relief items and constructing showers and latrines. Nevertheless, the most urgent needs of thousands of families remain unmet.

MSF urges for an immediate scale up of long-term humanitarian assistance, to prevent the loss of more lives and to ensure decent living conditions for all those who have been forced to flee.

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300,000 flee flare-up of ethnic violence in north-eastern DR Congo (19.06.2019)

Teams have also been deployed to assess the situation and engage with communities and the authorities to help prevent more attacks.

NEW YORK, United States of America, June 19, 2019 – More than 300,000 people have been forced to flee resurgent inter-ethnic violence in north-east Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) just this month, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday.

Citing multiple attacks and counter-attacks between Hema herders and Lendu farmers, UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch told journalists in Geneva that the situation had worsened in recent days.

The development comes amid reports of intense fighting between the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) and non-state armed actors in Djugu territory, as the authorities attempt to bring the situation under control in the vast, resource-rich region.

“People are fleeing attacks and counter attacks in Djugu Territory, with reports of both communities forming self-defence groups and being involved in revenge killings”, Mr. Baloch said.

“The details we are receiving from our partners, and also some of the displaced”, he said, included reports of “brutalities against civilians, killings, sexual violence, and other extreme forms of violence against civilians”, noting that UNHCR’s warning is based on information received from sources in 125 locations.

Three of Ituri’s five administrative territories – Djugu, Mahagi and Irumu – have all seen mass displacement after self-defence militia reportedly carried out “revenge killings”, according to UNHCR.

Peacekeepers beef-up presence in trouble-spots

In response to fears that the situation could escalate further, the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, which goes by the French acronym MONUSCO, has set up three temporary military bases in Djugu and Mahagi.

Teams have also been deployed to assess the situation and engage with communities and the authorities to help prevent more attacks.

Simmering rivalry between the Hema and Lendu goes back decades; in the five-year war which began in 1998, thousands were killed.

Then, as now, there is concern about the humanitarian situation in Bunia, the regional capital of Ituri, amid reports from UNHCR that those trying to reach the relative safety of sites there and surrounding the urban centre “are reportedly blocked by armed youth from both ethnic groups”, while others “are trying to cross Lake Albert into Uganda”.

To date, the majority of those forced to flee violence have found shelter with host communities, while some 30,000 people have arrived in displacement sites where conditions were already dire, with many needing shelter and health care, UNHCR’s Mr. Baloch said.

Mass displacement could complicate Ebola fight – WHO

In response to a journalist’s question as to whether the mass displacement risked complicating efforts to tackle the ongoing Ebola virus disease outbreak north-eastern DRC, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said that the “mobility” of people in Ituri and neighbouring North Kivu was a “risk factor”.

He added: “Every time you have people moving in high numbers, it’s more complicated to work on follow-ups: contact-tracing, follow-ups on people basically who are supposed to be observed on a daily basis, or for 21 days” – the incubation period for the disease.

So far, DRC’s latest Ebola outbreak has claimed 1,449 lives and infected 2168 people since it was declared on 1 August last year, said Mr. Jasarevic.

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