DRC: Lives shattered by violence, displacement and hunger in ‘forgotten crisis’: WFP
UN humanitarians issued an urgent appeal on Tuesday to help millions of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where chronic violence and displacement continue to fuel a dramatic hunger crisis.
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), since March 2022 alone, 5.7 million people have been displaced in the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri.
“The country is continental in size with acres of space, but millions of people have no choice but to live in very overcrowded and squalid camps,” or with already overburdened host families, WFP spokesperson for southern Africa, Tomson Phiri, told journalists in Geneva.
Today, as a result of the lawlessness associated with some 120 non-state armed groups, the UN agency has struggled to deliver vital relief to vulnerable communities where negotiating access is “an ongoing challenge”.
“It takes WFP on a very good day, four days to deliver food assistance from Goma, which is the capital in the east, to a place called Beni, which is 241 kilometres away,” Mr. Phiri said. “But it is taking us between three to four months to do so today because of insecurity.”
Mr. Phiri who maintained that the humanitarian catastrophe was a “classic example” of a forgotten emergency, explained that displacement has driven food insecurity as people are driven off their land and left unable to grow food.
Latest projections indicate that 25.8 million people in the DRC will face acute food insecurity in 2023 – the highest number worldwide.
So many are going hungry despite the country’s natural wealth. Paradoxically, the DRC produces precious metals which supply the world’s most advanced technologies, the WFP spokesperson said.
In addition to surging violence in the east, today’s climate crisis continues to claim lives and livelihoods. At least 400 people died in disastrous flooding in South Kivu last month and 3,000 homes were destroyed, driving further displacement.
Now more than ever, host communities also face the risk of hunger, Mr. Phiri warned, as WFP ramps up assistance to reach 3.6 million people over the next six months.
So far this year, however, only 15 per cent of the $870 million required for the humanitarian response in the country has been sourced, Mr. Phiri noted.
“We need investment in all facets of life in the DRC: infrastructure, basic services, but most importantly, we need peace,” he insisted.
STORY: Eastern DRC Crisis - WFP
TRT: 1’58”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH, NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
RELEASE DATE: 20 June 2023
FORMAT: HYBRID PRESS BRIEFING
DATELINE: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News , B-roll | OCHA
Gaza: ‘Worst-case scenario’ unfolds as two-month aid blockade deepens suffering - OCHA
Two months into a devastating aid blockade of Gaza food has run out and people are fighting over water amid relentless bombing, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said on Friday.
/Includes OCHA footage from Gaza City/
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Children in Gaza are going to bed starving, says aid agency
The biggest UN aid agency in Gaza on Tuesday condemned the two-month Israeli blockade on Gaza that has left families sharing a single tin of food at mealtime and the sick and injured without lifesaving medical help, amid daily bombardment.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine force frontline areas to empty: UNHCR
With Ukrainian cities still reeling from this week’s deadly Russian missile and drone attacks, communities on the front line continue to be targeted too, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday. “We also see attacks on frontline regions increasing and it's, as always, civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Funding and supply shortfalls for the UN World Food Programme (WFP)'s work in Ethiopia will halt lifesaving treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children at the end of the month. “We are at the breaking point,” it said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians, the UN Human Rights Office warned today.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNWOMEN , UNDP
Sudan: Aid teams report massive displacement after latest Darfur atrocity; women’s bodies ‘turned into battlegrounds’
In Sudan’s North Darfur, tens of thousands of people have fled a displacement camp following the massacre of civilians and aid workers as the country enters the third year of a conflict marked by horrific levels of sexual violence, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITC
Global trade could shrink by three per cent as a result of the United States’ new tariff measures which in the longer term could reshape and boost as-yet untapped regional commercial links, a top UN economist confirmed on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Warring parties in Sudan are overseeing a wholesale assault on human rights amid global inaction, the UN Human Rights Office said on Friday, as the conflict is about to enter its third year.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office on Friday said Israel’s increasing issuance of so-called “evacuation orders” for Palestinians in Gaza have resulted in their forcible transfer.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , UNHCR , UNWOMEN , WFP , WHO
Two years of war in Sudan have created epic suffering, aid agencies say
Two years since Sudan’s brutal conflict began, UN agencies warned that famine is spreading and civilians of all ages continue to suffer shocking abuse, including rape and gang rape.
1
1
Edited News | UNMAS
In Gaza, ongoing Israeli military operations and the aid blockade have continued to add to daily fears and hardships confronting those in the devastated enclave, the UN Mine Action Service, UNMAS, said on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNDP
Dangers grow for Myanmar earthquake survivors, health system 'overwhelmed' - UNDP
In earthquake-shattered central Myanmar people are sleeping in the streets in fear of buildings collapsing, facing early monsoon rains and the risk of waterborne diseases, the UN Development Programme warned on Tuesday.