By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – UN teams on the ground in Goma eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday indicated a fast-deteriorating situation after an ongoing assault by M23 rebels on the provincial capital.
They said that dead bodies lie in the streets, hospitals are overwhelmed and there has been an uptick in reports of sexual violence, rape and looting.
Shelley Thakral, spokesperson for the WFP said “Roads are blocked, ports are closed and those crossing Lake Kivu risk their lives in makeshift boats,” many UN agencies on the ground is try to provide assistance and protection wherever possible.
She said “I spoke just moments ago to an activist In Goma and he told me, ‘We’re here, we’re hiding. We don’t know who will come to help us.’”
UN aid coordination office echoed the humanitarian community’s deep concerns about the spiraling violence across the resource-rich region that has uprooted some 300,000 people from camps around Goma in a matter of days.
“Our colleagues in the DRC report heavy, small arms fire and mortar fire across the city and the presence of many dead bodies in the streets,” said OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke.
“We have reports of rapes committed by fighters, looting of property, including of a humanitarian warehouse and humanitarian and health facilities being hit.”
Mr. Laerke told reporters that the emergency has left hospitals in Goma reportedly overwhelmed by the influx of wounded people, electricity and water supplies “compromised” and internet services cut off on Monday. “Goma is still offline this morning”.
The development came after urgent calls from the international community including the Security Council in New York, where the council members demanded an immediate halt to the M23 rebel offensive and called for the group to withdraw from territories it has seized.
They reiterated their support for the UN peacekeeping force in the DR Congo, MONUSCO, and paid tribute to blue helmets who have lost their lives from South Africa, Malawi and Uruguay in recent days.
Council condemned the presence of “external forces” in eastern DRC after reports Rwandan troops are heavily involved in the offensive and called for all parties to adhere to the ceasefire and return to diplomatic talks.
Media reported that before the latest escalation in violence in eastern DRC’s Kivus, some 5.1 million people had already been displaced by years of insecurity in the mineral-rich region and forced to live in overcrowded camps with little food and no security.
UN agencies and partners are monitoring the highly unstable situation which has forced WFP to temporarily pause food assistance activities in around Goma.
“The airport and major access roads within the region have been cut off…Depending on the duration of violence, the supply of food into the city could be severely hampered,” said WFP’s Ms. Thakral.
“This is a huge test for Congolese trapped by fighting in Goma and surrounding areas the next 24 hours will be critical as people start to run low on supplies and will need to see what they can find to survive.”
WHO said that the highly mobile nature of the emergency has prompted additional fears that existing diseases may spread quickly among uprooted populations, although preventive measures were taken before the latest escalation.
The agency stressed that the immediate concern is to help victims of the violence.
Dr Adelheid Marschang, Emergency Response Coordinator for the DRC said “There are currently hundreds of people in hospital, most admitted with gunshot and shrapnel wounds, with secondary infections becoming a health risk”.
She noted that before Goma airport closed on Saturday, WHO had sent critical medical supplies for trauma and emergency care, infection prevention, cholera and more.
UN agency’s response to the crisis has also included providing tents for hospitals to cope with the increasing number of injured. It has medical hubs in North and South Kivu, in the cities of Goma and Bukavu to support health care needs in eastern DRC.
The provinces of North and South Kivu reported high numbers of cholera, measles and malaria cases and deaths, Dr. Marschang said.
He warned a “heightened risk for spillover of cholera” into neighboring countries and provinces.
The area was also the epicentre of an outbreak of a new strain of mpox, declared a public health emergency of international concern in August 2024.
Dr. Marschang warned that the new wave of displacement will make it increasingly hard to track and treat the disease.
He said after the lethal violence, hospitals and health workers themselves are in danger, with “reports of health workers being shot at and patients including babies being caught in crossfire”.
“Attacks on healthcare violate the rules of war. Healthcare must be protected at all times,” she insisted.
WHO, the UN agencies and partners said that they are especially worried about the increasing risk to women and girls from violence, including rape.
WHO said “Pregnant women are at risk, with very high maternal death rates, even before the violence escalated.”
“Sadly, hospitals and health workers are in danger. We are hearing reports of health workers being shot at, and patients, including babies, being caught in the crossfire. WHO reminds everyone that attacks on healthcare violate the rules of war. Health care must be protected at all times.”
WFP Ms. Thakral reported that mobile teams and mobile clinics are at work amid reports that women had been raped multiple times while searching for firewood or after leaving the perimeter of their camp.
She said other reports indicated “an increase in rape along the pathways that some of the conflict partners are now taking into South Kivu.”
Ms. Thakral underscored the agency’s efforts “to have some solutions to follow the populations as they move”.
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