By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – UN refugee agency said on Tuesday that the insecurity and horrific sexual violence have left thousands fled across borders in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo with no sign of the exodus stopping.
Patrick Eba, Deputy Director of UNHCR’s Division of International Protection said “Near the frontlines, sexual violence and human rights abuses remain rampant, as is the looting and destruction of civilian homes and businesses”.
Mr. Eba told reporters in Geneva that that North and South Kivu provinces remain unstable, with “hundreds of thousands of people on the move”.
He stressed that 80,000 people have fled armed clashes between Congolese Government forces and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels into neighboring countries and some 61,000 have arrived in Burundi since January.
Mr. Eba noted rapewith an average of more than 60 a day a staggering 895 cases of rape were reported to humanitarian actors in the last two weeks of February.
He highlighted other risks faced by civilians, including the dangers posed by explosive remnants of war to children and farmers trying to tend their fields.
UN humanitarian affairs coordination office reported that armed men had raided at least two hospitals in North Kivu’s capital Goma, abducting dozens of patients.
WFP has had to pause its aid operations in conflict-affected areas but was resuming emergency food assistance “in some parts of North Kivu” according to a post on social media platform X on Tuesday morning, aiming to reach over 210,000 people.
Mr. Eba said that inside North and South Kivu, “significant” population movements have continued, in line with reported M23 orders issued to internally displaced people to leave the camps around Goma.
“Today, only 17,000 people are left residing in IDP sites, schools and churches around Goma, while an estimated 414,000 of their neighbors have been on the move for the past four weeks, encouraged by the de facto authorities to return to their villages of origin,” he explained.
Mr. Eba warned that given the widespread insecurity in eastern DRC, “many more” people may need to cross borders in search of safety.
UNHCR’s position regarding returns to the area is that “Congolese nationals fleeing the conflict, as well as those who are outside the country, who originate from the areas affected by the conflict, may need refugee protection under international and regional legal frameworks,” he said.
He emphasized the importance of “informed decision-making” for any voluntary returns to conflict-affected areas.
UNHCR spokesperson Eujin Byun confirmed that the agency had received a waiver lifting the 90-day suspension for “a few emergency countries, including DRC” when asked about the impact of the United States’ humanitarian funding freeze on operations in the country.
She said that assistance for the current crisis that was spawned by a decades-long conflict in the mineral-rich region had “always been underfunded”, expressed hope that UNHCR will be able to “continue to support this emergency”.
There are over 1 million Congolese refugees across Africa, mainly in neighboring countries.
Uganda hosts over half of that total, Burundi has new arrivals since January’s flash M23 offensive.
Some 6.7 million people were internally displaced within the DRC prior to the current crisis, UNHCR added.
Comments are closed.