Mozambique after the cyclone (28.03.2019)

The United Nations has launched an emergency appeal for US $281 million to save lives and kick-start recovery in Mozambique.

NEW YORK, United States of America, March 28, 2019 – When Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe on 14 March, it was one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in Africa in recent times. The death toll across the three countries is at least 700, with hundreds of people still missing. The devastation has affected 3 million people, nearly two-thirds of them in Mozambique, and this number will rise. One million people across the three countries need life-saving assistance. The cyclone destroyed entire towns and villages, and wiped out hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland on the eve of the next harvest. The United Nations has launched an emergency appeal for US $281 million to save lives and kick-start recovery in Mozambique. Appeals for Malawi and Zimbabwe will be issued in the next few days. Here we document the storm’s impact and the humanitarian response, in Mozambique so far.

Search and rescue coming to a close

Within hours of the cyclone hitting, international search and rescue teams mobilized to join volunteer and Government efforts to rescue and evacuate survivors. The cities of Beira and Buzi were particularly hard-hit. Hundreds of Buzi residents took shelter in the stands of a stadium, where they have slept in the open air for a week, with nowhere to go. Beira City, with a population of over 500,000, and its surrounding villages, were practically razed by the flooding. Electricity to Beira has been cut and all of the roads and bridges destroyed, so the only means of access is via boat or plane.

Aid operations are scaling up

Aid agencies are rapidly scaling up their emergency assistance. We have distributed thousands of emergency kits with food, medicine, water purification gear and shelter to communities that are still stranded by flood waters. We are now rapidly gearing up our food, shelter, health and cholera prevention and protection responses.

Cholera vaccines on their way

Aid agencies are bringing 900,000 oral cholera vaccines into the country to roll out a mass campaign. Stagnant water, lack of hygiene and sanitation provides a perfect breeding ground for cholera and malaria.

Food prices soaring

Tropical Cyclone Idai hit a vast area that is already suffering from poverty, drought and climate change. Early estimates report half a million hectares of crops in Mozambique’s bread basket have been wiped out just before the harvest. Food scarcity is causing prices to soar – in Beira city, the price of some staple foods has risen by 500 per cent. So far, we have reached 100,000 people with food assistance and are scaling up to reach many more.

Rebuilding must begin now

The Government estimates 90,000 homes have been destroyed, and 128,000 people are taking shelter in 154 temporary sites across the country. There is an urgent need to invest in rebuilding from the very get-go, stresses the Government and aid agency heads.

Sheltering in schools

Thousands of displaced families are taking shelter in schools and other public buildings that haven’t been destroyed. Education services need to get up and running as soon as possible, say aid agencies. Hortencia, below said: “My house collapsed. I had to leave in the middle of the night with my children. I was so afraid. The wind was so strong and trees were falling. I wasn’t sure we would survive.”

World Food Programme Executive Director urges more funding for Cyclone-Hit Mozambique (27.03.2019)

BEIRA/MAPUTO – At the end of a two-day visit to Mozambique, the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, David Beasley, today said the international community must step up support to victims of the recent cyclone and flooding that have devastated large areas of the country.

After arriving Tuesday in Beira, which was struck by Cyclone Idai on March 14, hitting the port city of half a million people, Beasley overflew the nearby town of Buzi – which had been all but submerged by raging floodwaters – and met survivors receiving airlifted WFP assistance in the isolated village of Guara Guara.

“These people’s lives have been devastated, they have no livelihoods now, they’ve lost their homes, they’ve lost their farms, they’ve lost their crops, they’ve lost loved ones. And they’re going to need help at least for the next six to 12 months to get back on their feet,” Beasley said. “We need the international community to rally behind the victims of this storm with major financial support, so WFP can help the survivors of Cyclone Idai.”

An estimated 400,000 hectares of crops – primarily maize – were washed away just weeks ahead of the main April–May harvest. Other key sources of income, like livestock and fisheries, have also been badly affected.

Victims will need sustained support until they can get back on their feet – in the case of subsistence farmers, until the next main harvest in mid-2020. “We need to work together with the Government of Mozambique and the communities to ensure rehabilitation is done in a way that will prevent this devastation happening again, build better everything: houses, schools and health centres to stand the shocks,” added Beasley.

The disaster has demonstrated how vulnerable communities are to climate shocks and will inevitably push up already high malnutrition rates.

Since the cyclone hit, WFP has provided food assistance to more than 150,000 people, intends to reach half a million in the coming weeks, and, as soon as possible, all 1.7 million people urgently in need of food.

Displaced cyclone victims sheltering in scores of schools and churches in Beira and surrounding areas have received easy-to-prepare fortified blended food. Sixty metric tons of high energy biscuits airlifted into the country have been dropped by helicopter to people stranded by the floodwaters.

With 86,000 metric tons of commodities needed in the next three months, WFP is procuring large quantities of cereals, vegetable oil and fortified blended foods elsewhere in southern Africa, and shipping and trucking them into Mozambique. As conditions permit, WFP will increase local procurement.

As lead of the global humanitarian logistics “cluster” that helps coordinate the relief effort, WFP has deployed to Beira three MI-8 transport helicopters and a freight aircraft to support the broader humanitarian response. As lead of the emergency telecommunications cluster, WFP has been working to re-establish vital networks that can accelerate the response by government and humanitarian agencies.

Almost 60 additional WFP staff have been deployed to Mozambique, and 45 more are on the way: emergency coordinators, air operations managers and programming, logistics and telecommunications experts.

WFP requires US$140 million for the next three months.

On Wednesday in Maputo, Beasley met President Nyusi, key government ministers and donor representatives. “In these last two days, I was heartbroken by the devastation, but I also saw courage and determination on the faces of the Mozambican people”, he said. “The terrible destruction cannot dampen their spirits. WFP will stay with them, scaling up to help as many as possible.

“I urge the international community to respond quickly and generously, because lives are truly in the balance right now.”

The United Nations World Food Programme – saving lives in emergencies and changing lives for millions through sustainable development. WFP works in more than 80 countries around the world, feeding people caught in conflict and disasters, and laying the foundations for a better future.

Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media, @wfp_mozambique

For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org(mailto:firstname.lastname@wfp.org)):
Gerald Bourke, WFP/Beira, Mob/whatsapp +27 82 90 81 417
Deborah Nguyen, WFP/Beira, Mob: +258 86 505 6300 / whatsapp +33 652 89 76 44
Jane Howard, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 6513 2321, Mob. +39 346 7600521
Herve Verhoosel, WFP/Geneva, Mob. +21 798428057
Francis Mwanza, WFP/London, Tel. +44 (0)20 3857 7411, Mob. +44 (0)7968 008474
Challiss McDonough, WFP/Washington, Tel. +1-202-653-1149, Mob. +1-202-774-4026
Steve Taravella, WFP/New York, Tel. +1-646-556-6909, Mob. +1-202-770-5993

Cyclone Idai briefing: Dr Djamila Cabral, WHO Representative in Mozambique (27.03.2019)

Last Friday I visited Beira, one of the worst-affected areas that was hit by Tropical Cyclone Idai.

The devastation is enormous

More than 100 000 people have lost their homes and all of their possessions. Families, pregnant women, babies are living in temporary camps in horrific conditions, without secure food supplies, or safe drinking water and sanitation.

Around 55 health centres have been severely damaged. I visited the central hospital in Beira where I saw the direct impact of the cyclone. The flooding had damaged essential equipment and the facility is unable to receive patients during this crucial time. As an example, surgical theatre and nursery completely damaged.

Official death toll is more than 446 but we expect the real numbers to be much higher. 1.8 million people in Mozambique need urgent humanitarian assistance.

For WHO, health is our number one priority now

We must not let these people suffer a second disaster through a serious disease outbreak or inability to access essential health services. They have suffered enough.

WHO’s Director General, Dr Tedros has called for a “no regrets” approach – this means that we are doing whatever it takes to address the crisis, investing all the available resources now to save lives and protect health.

We are building up a surge team of over 40 staff from across the Organization, with expertise in logistics, epidemiology, and outbreak prevention and response.

We have a number of key priorities right now. First to set up an early warning disease detection system so that we can respond rapidly as soon as an outbreak is suspected. Then we need to ensure that, as resources come in, they are immediately put to work.

There is increased risk of diseases

We know that after an event like this, there is extremely high risk of diarrhoeal diseases like cholera. WHO is positioning supplies to prepare to treat diarrhoeal diseases – lifesaving intravenous fluids, diagnostic tests, 900 000 doses of oral cholera vaccines are on their way from the global emergency stockpile. We are providing our expertise to set up 3 cholera treatment centres, including an 80-bed treatment centre in Beira.

We are also preparing for a spike in malaria in the coming weeks by procuring 900 000 insecticide-treated bednets to protect all affected families, and ensure rapid diagnostic tests and antimalarials are positioned to high-risk areas.

And we are working at top speed to ensure that the people of Mozambique can access essential health services during this crisis to ensure that:

  • people with HIV, TB or diabetes continue to receive their medications
  • that thousands of pregnant women are able to receive care for safe childbirth
  • that children receive treatment for common infections and are screened (and treated if needed) for acute malnutrition
  • that people in need receive psycho-social support and protection from gender-based violence.

The coming weeks are crucial for WHO in Mozambique. The health sector needs at least $38 million over the next 3 months for the health response to this humanitarian crisis.

Opinion: Threat of a closure of the Dadaab Refugee Camp – Is it a bargaining chip?

This is not the first time the Kenyan Government have claimed they want to close the Kakuma and Dadaab Refugee Camp. That has been done before, they did this in May and June 2016. Even the Federal Republic of Somalia was worried at one point, that the refugees would suddenly return after the notification of the closure back then. Suddenly late in August 2016, the U.S. Government suddenly dropped more money on the Refugee Camps. Than, it became silence and no problem hosting them. The same happen with the European Union in 2017 and certainly, the same government hopes in happens in 2019. However, don’t be surprised, if someone get hooked on the bait.

Because in August 2016, the US Administration stated this:

WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America, August 23, 2016 – Today, Secretary of State John Kerry announced in Nairobi that the United States is providing more than $146 million in additional U.S. humanitarian assistance to support refugees, voluntary returnees, and drought victims in Kenya and Somalia. This new funding includes a significant new contribution of more than $59 million for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to protect and assist refugees in Kenya, and support voluntary refugee returns to Somalia. In addition, the funding includes new humanitarian assistance of more than $87 million in food and non-food support for refugees and drought victims in Kenya and Somalia. This announcement brings the total of U.S. humanitarian assistance in Kenya and Somalia to nearly $265 million in fiscal year 2016” (U.S. Department of State – ‘Additional Funding for Kenya and Somalia’ (23.08.2016)

The next year in 2017, in February the High Court of Kenya even blocked the Closure of the Refugee Camp. Even the European Parliament in May 2017 adopted a text on the Camp stating this:

whereas the EU has allocated EUR 286 million through the European Development Fund (EDF) for the period 2014-2020, focusing on the implementation of the ‘Compact’ and on state and peace building, food security, resilience and education in particular; whereas the EU Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF) for Africa was signed at the Valletta Summit on 12 November 2015 and was designed to address the root causes of destabilisation, forced displacement and irregular migration by promoting resilience, economic opportunities, equal opportunities, security and development; whereas the EU is responding to the lifesaving basic needs of refugees hosted in Kenyan refugee camps” (EU, 18.05.2017).

Why do I post these old statements on extra added funding for the Refugee Camps in Kenya. Well, the Kenyan Government is now known for having notified the UNHCR, that they would close the Dadaab Refugee Camp and not do it. Because, it is one solution and we all know why they do this. The refugee camps are bargain chips for more funding. This is what they do. It is not the first time and not the last.  

This is also the knowledge of the Kenyan Government, that is why they can force again the rich Western Countries, the well-wishing, not-to-friendly wealthy benefactors for own personal benefit. So, they can pay a higher price and drop more jewels on the Refugee Camp. Because, that solves the problem at home and also keeps it going as it has been.

That is why the Kenyan government in the hour of need, in their mercy for some foreign exchange can expose their greed. Notify of the closure of the Refugee Camp. To ensure, that the Western Partners, the ones who donates aid, actually gives them some more. To keep the 30 year old venture up and also pay-off the cronies in Nairobi. Which also needs part of the stake in the Aid Business. They don’t want to skimped out of the well deserved funds for hosting these people.

That is why the same government have tried this trick in 2016, 2017 and now returns to the old venture of skimming money out a refugee problem, again in 2019. We could lie and say, they are really need in more funds and in dire need for such, and such. But then, we would kid ourselves and also the general public.

There are always need for more programs, better food and more possibilities for the ones staying a place Dadaab, but that is not the reason why the Kenyan government did notify the UNHCR. They are hungry and want to eat. It is their turn to eat. That is why the smelled the empty plates and want their UNGA too. Peace.

Cameroon: Ministry of Transport – Press Release (26.03.2019)

UNHCR rushing staff, supplies to assist people affected by Cyclone Idai (25.03.2019)

UNHCR efforts demonstrate solidarity with the people of the region who have for decades generously hosted refugees and shared their limited resources with them.

PRETORIA, South Africa, March 25, 2019 – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is working with governments and humanitarian partners in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi to provide relief to the survivors of the Tropical Cyclone Idai which struck the east coast of southern Africa on 14 and 15 March.

We are sending our emergency response teams – making available our expertise and staff, and aid supplies to assist those affected by the disaster without recent precedent in the region.

UNHCR efforts demonstrate solidarity with the people of the region who have for decades generously hosted refugees and shared their limited resources with them.

Our teams will support the on-going efforts to respond to the urgent life-saving needs of the affected people, including refugees.

We are mobilizing emergency shelter and core relief items from our global stockpiles to assist some 30,000 people in dire need, including affected refugees in Zimbabwe and their host communities, and the local population displaced by the cyclone.

The affected population is in dire need of basic relief supplies, food, health services and shelter. Our relief items will include family tents, shelter plastic tarpaulins, sleeping mats, cooking sets and utensils, Jerry cans, buckets, mosquito nets, solar lamps and soap.

In Mozambique, the most affected country, the government has declared a national emergency as the death toll from the effects of the Cyclone climbs above the reported 242 and is expected to exceed 1,000. The country is currently home to some 25,000 refugees – who have fortunately not been directly affected.

In Zimbabwe, the government has declared a state of disaster, and 104 people are reported to have died as a result of the cyclone. Two districts are reported to have been severely affected, including Chipinge District, host to Tongogara refugee camp. The camp currently has some 13,000 refugees, many of whom have suffered injuries, but no fatalities.

UNHCR is conducting rapid assessments in Tongogara camp to determine the extent of the damage, however, based on available information 2,000 refugee houses, mainly built using mud bricks, were completely or partially damaged. Over 600 latrines have collapsed, and borehole water is feared to be contaminated due to flood waters. There is a real danger of an outbreak of waterborne diseases.

The refugee host communities have also been affected, and it is estimated that 100,000, Zimbabwean residents of Chipinge District, including some 20,000 who live near the refugee camp, are in immediate need of life-saving humanitarian assistance.

In Malawi, the government has also declared a state of national disaster, and 84 people are reported to have died. At least 15 districts and two cities have been impacted, with approximately 840,000 people affected nationally by the floods.

About 94,000 people are displaced and sheltering in makeshift sites for internally displaced people. Refugee locations in Malawi were not directly affected.

More than 4,400 Mozambican nationals – including women and children, have been forced to seek safety from the Cyclone’s devastation in Nsanje district, in Malawi. We plan to assist both Mozambican new arrivals and their Malawian hosts.

UNHCR has decades-long experience speedily responding to refugee humanitarian emergencies around the world.

Statement by the SADC Chairperson, His Excellency Dr. Hage g. Geingob, on the effects of cyclone Idai in the SADC region (24.03.2019)

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) notes with great sadness the devastation caused by the recent tropical Cyclone Idai in the SADC region, in particular in the Republics of Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The economic cost and social impact of the Cyclone to the affected countries, and indeed the entire region, is immeasurable.

The Cyclone, which killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands others, left a trail of destruction to land and infrastructure affecting accessibility and provision of health care and welfare to the affected communities. SADC expresses heartfelt condolences to the people and Governments of the three countries, and indeed to the bereaved families.

SADC appreciates the overwhelming support extended to the communities by some Member States, cooperating partners, and most importantly by citizens of the three countries who combined efforts to assist their fellow nationals. SADC stands in solidarity with the three countries as they recover from the tragedy. In this regard, SADC has contributed a total of US$500,000 as follows; US$200,000 to Mozambique; US$150,000 to Malawi; and US$150,000 to Zimbabwe. We call upon all our partners, within and beyond the region, to continue supporting the rescue operations, and in providing the needed humanitarian assistance.

In view of the increased occurrence of climate-related catastrophes, such as cyclones, floods and droughts, around the world and especially in the SADC region, SADC reiterates its call for joint global efforts to reduce global warming and the impacts of climate change and variability, while stepping up efforts to enhance adaptive capacities of developing countries in line with the spirit of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) and Article 8(4) of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

I call upon SADC Member States to re-double their efforts to strengthen disaster risk management capacities, as emphasized in the SADC Disaster Preparedness and Response Strategy adopted in 2016, and to fully operationalise the necessary collaborative mechanisms to ensure rapid joint and concerted responses to disasters.

Dr. Hage G. Geingob

President of the Republic of Namibia, and Chairperson of SADC

21 March 2019

Idai disaster: Stranded victims still need rescue from heavy rains as UN scales up response (21.03.2019)

The World Food Programme (WFP) said that people are still stranded on rooftops after the storm began its sweep through Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe six days ago.

NEW YORK, United States of America, March 21, 2019 – Dire conditions persist in vast areas of southern Africa affected by Cyclone Idai as heavy rain continues to cause “massive destruction”, the UN said on Thursday, while aid teams scale up efforts to reach those most in need.

Warning that the situation is likely to deteriorate, the World Food Programme (WFP) said that people are still stranded on rooftops after the storm began its sweep through Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe six days ago.

In Mozambique alone, the agency is seeking more than $121 million to help 1.7 million people affected through the next three months, WFP spokesperson Hervé Verhoosel said, after the Government declared a state of national emergency.

Sofala and Manica provinces were worst-hit, and extensive damage has been caused to major roads and bridges which are now impassable.

Power networks have also been severed and are unlikely to be restored for several weeks, while thousands have lost their homes, Mr. Verhoosel told journalists in Geneva, noting that WFP drones are being used to help locate stranded populations.

Thousands isolated, entire villages ‘wiped out’

According to Mozambique’s National Disaster Management Institute (INGC), more than 100,000 people are still “isolated” and without assistance in Chimoio, Dombe and other locations in Manica province.

The situation “is likely to deteriorate even more and the numbers of people affected is expected to increase as it is raining there as we speak”, Mr. Verhoosel added.

To date, WFP has provided food assistance to more than 20,000 people in Sofala, Manica, Tete and Zambezia; it aims to reach 600,000 people in the next four weeks.

But with aerial assessments over Mozambique’s Buzi valley showing “entire villages wiped out”, Mr. Verhoosel stressed that needs are likely to far outstrip initial estimates.

“It is clear that the number of 600,000 will definitely go up in the coming days,” Mr. Verhoosel said. “That has of course (an) implication on cost. If we help 600,000 people for three months, that is a cost of $42 million. If we need to help up to 1.7 million people for three months, that will be a cost of $121.5 million. Obviously, we don’t have that money today.”

Zimbabwe’s Chimanimani district hardest-hit

In Zimbabwe, 200,000 people urgently need food assistance in the coming three months, according to WFP.

Conditions in the hardest-hit district, Chimanimani, are severe, Mr Verhoosel explained, with 90 per cent of property significantly damaged.

Chimanimani is located in Manicaland province in eastern Zimbabwe, where heavy rains in both Manicaland and neighbouring Masvingo province to the south “continue to cause massive destruction”, according to WFP.

To respond to urgent needs, the agency is seeking more than $5 million to provide food, air and logistical support for the flood response.

More than $10 million required for Malawi flood response

In Malawi, where Cyclone Idai had a limited impact, 920,000 have been affected by flooding that began on 5 March, according to the Government.

People are beginning to return home and WFP has started food distributions to the worst-hit districts of Nsanje, Phalombe, Chikwawa and Zomba.

In the next two months, the agency plans to reach 650,000 people, an operation that will cost $10.3 million.

Underscoring the huge logistical challenges of the aid operation, Mr. Verhoosel explained that a WFP airplane reached the Mozambican port of Beira soon after the disaster happened, in extremely difficult conditions.

Aid has to be unloaded by hand, ‘box by box’

“That was probably the first cargo (plane) to land,” he said. “The food from that cargo is not yet fully distributed. The problem that we have is more the access…because most of the people are on rooftops or in a place that we cannot access by road.”

Mr. Verhoosel also highlighted ongoing challenges in Beira, where 90 per cent of the port city was damaged by Idai.

“In the port for the moment, you have no infrastructure,” he said, adding that the situation was the same at the airport, where people had to unload food by hand, “box by box”.

“In Beira, the level of water is not the same as in the countryside… inland, the problem is that you have basically water all around,” Mr Verhoosel said.

UNFPA protecting health and well-being of women

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), is providing humanitarian assistance to Mozambique in the aftermath of Idai, to protect the health and well-being of women, through services for sexual and reproductive health and prevention of and response to gender-based violence (GBV).

Given the urgent needs, UNFPA said it was providing the following relief:

  • Supporting 19 mobile clinics in hard-to-reach areas.
  • Providing 2,000 dignity kits to the most vulnerable women and girls.
  • Providing 19 tents for mobile SRH services.
  • Providing 240 emergency reproductive kits to cover the needs of more than 300,000 affected people, including delivery kits for communities and hospitals, post-rape treatment kits, and kits for prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections.
  • Supporting GBV case management and psychosocial services for GBV survivors.

UN Report states that armed groups comes from destabilizing neighbouring countries into the DRC!

On ReliefWeb today, there was released a United Nations Security Council Report dated back to the 12th March 2019. What is vital about this report, is that what has been in the press and not been verified. Is not clearly stated in the print and reports of the United Nations. That is a very tough bargain, as the UNSC shouldn’t release reports, which is false or not verified by either its witnesses, its experts or its investigators. This is no in concern with the armed groups that is crossing into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from Uganda and Rwanda.

There been reports about the FDLR and Rwanda National Congress crossing into Uganda in December 2018, until now it hasn’t been verified. The UN is not saying why they crossed into the the DRC or where they came from, but the arrests and extradition was served to Rwanda. That is why, the previous reported stories in connections seems more likeable. We can wonder, why the UN didn’t verify the meetings in Kisoro, Uganda too, as it was in connection with the arrests being made in the DRC.

Alas, there are more, which is striking, because the language is dense, but still settling the score between the DRC towards the Uganda/Rwanda, who both are known for conning in the neighbour republic. They are stating it directly in this report, without no shadow of a doubt.

On 15 December, FARDC arrested the spokesperson and deputy head of intelligence of the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR), and media sources reported their extradition to Rwanda in January. While the extradition and repatriation of disarmed FDLR combatants weakened the group, FDLR remained active. On 16 and 17 December, seven FARDC soldiers were reportedly killed in two separate attacks by suspected FDLR rebels. Military operations in December and January against an FDLR splinter group, Conseil national pour le renouveau et la démocratie-Ubwiyunge, forced the latter to abandon positions in North Kivu and move into South Kivu” (UN, 2019).

Participants called for continued cooperation among the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda to complete the repatriation of disarmed FDLR combatants and their dependants from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and of former M23 combatants and dependants from Rwanda and Uganda” (UN, 2019).

In furtherance of the second national commitment, namely, to “consolidate State authority, particularly in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, including to prevent armed groups from destabilizing neighbouring countries”, Congolese authorities closed FDLR transit camps in the east in November 2018 and repatriated 1,634 disarmed FDLR combatants and dependants, some of whom were previously detained, pursuant to a bilateral agreement with Rwanda” (UN, 2019).

During its fourth meeting, held on 24 January in Nairobi, the follow-up mechanism adopted a timetable for screening and sensitization missions to Uganda and Rwanda, to advance the repatriation of former M23 members, as well as a mission to Rwanda to monitor the reintegration of former FDLR combatants and their dependants. From 15 to 22 February, representatives of my Special Envoy, together with representatives of the Governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, the Expanded Joint Verification Mission and MONUSCO, visited camps hosting former M23 members in Rwanda and Uganda. Previously, from 11 to 13 February, the Office of my Special Envoy and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region had conducted an assessment visit to the headquarters of the follow-up mechanism on ADF, located in Kasese, Uganda. While the Democratic Republic of the Congo has deployed a representative to serve on the mechanism, the delayed contribution of personnel by participating States and logistical challenges continue to hamper the operations of the follow-up mechanism” (UN, 2019).

It is really significant that it comes within the paradigm of the tenseness between Rwanda and Uganda. That the UNSC releases this report this way, that its showing the FDLR, M23 among others. Which has gotten support from Uganda/Rwanda in the past, while doing their deeds in Eastern Congo. We can clearly wonder, why they verify it now and has this report for the Secretary-General of the UN.

Because, that means the UN is taking the situation seriously and needs to see action. As the destabilizing neighbours are continuing to persist in the region, as well as it didn’t state. Cross over into themselves and create issues there. Like the MRCD or parts of the ex-FDLR are doing together with the RNC.

It is really significant what was compiled in this, by all means the connections and even the stated wording of it. That the states even hamper with the operations of the follow-up mechanism. Shows, there is clear intent from the parties, to continue to destabilizing the DRC.

Surely, someone will torn by this report. Peace.

Reference:

United Nations Security Council – ‘Implementation of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Region – Report of the Secretary-General’ (12.03.2019)

Cameroon: CHRDA reports that the Security Forces has raided 176 villages within 2016/17 (16.03.2019)