Det er måske verdens største flygtningekatastrofe, blot med den tilføjelse, at DR Congo (tidl. Zaire) er så stort, at folk ikke opnår flygtningestatus, idet de flygter fra ét sted inde i landet til et andet og altså ikke krydser grænsen til nogle af de ni stater, som omgiver nationen i Afrikas hjerte.
NEW YORK, 5 November 2012: A top United Nations relief official Monday urged a greater response to tackle the “monumental” humanitarian needs being experienced in the eastern part of DR Congo, where over two million people have been displaced by fighting.
“The fact that there are now 2,4 million displaced persons (fordrevne) in the DR Congo, including more than 1,6 million in the Kivu provinces is a very bleak illustration of the dire humanitarian situation the country is facing,” the Director of Operations for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), John Ging, said at UN Headquarters in New York.
Mr. Ging spent a week in late October in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu to assess the situation. He noted that the UN and its partners have appealed for 791 million US dollar to provide life-saving assistance to DR Congo this year and have so far only received 429 million.
“More funding is urgently and desperately needed,” he stressed.
While the humanitarian needs in the DR Congo have risen consistently in recent years, funding for the relief response has decreased steadily since 2009, according to OCHA, with annual contributions falling from 541 million dollar in 2008 to 391 million in 2011.
Frygtede og blodtørstige M23
The Kivus have seen increased fighting since earlier this year between Government troops, with the support of peacekeepers from the UN Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO), and the notorious March 23 Movement (M23), which is composed of soldiers from the Congolese national army who mutinied (gjorde mytteri) in April.
In addition to causing major internal displacement, the fighting – as well as that involving other armed groups – has also led to many people fleeing to neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda.
“Eastern DR Congo has been hit this year by massive humanitarian needs triggered by the rise of the M23 rebel group and violence by more than two dozen other armed groups across the region, with widespread abuses (overgreb) against civilians including murder, rape and brutal reprisals,” said Mr. Ging.
“As armed groups proliferate (spreder sig) in the Kivus, it is the people who suffer: men are massacred, women are raped and children are forcibly recruited (som børnesoldater, red.), while villages are looted (plyndret) and destroyed,” he added.
En million slemt underernærede børn
The current emergency adds to what are already monumental humanitarian needs in the DR Congo, John Ging noted.
Among the challenges the country faces are 4,5 million people who are suffering from food insecurity; one million children under five who are suffering from severe acute malnutrition; and 27.000 cholera cases this year.
“It is crucial that we continue to step up our interventions and protect people. We need a larger humanitarian response”, Mr. Ging said.
The UN is providing a huge amount of humanitarian aid to the people of eastern DR Congo, despite problems with access because of the volatile security situation.
Kilde: FNs Nyhedstjeneste
