The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNHCR
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing Resurging Violence in DRC - Kasai UNHCR 04SEP2020
A resurgence in violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could trigger another wave of mass displacement in the country – the UN Refugee Agency warned
Inter-ethnic confrontation and a tussle for land, mineral and timber in the DRC’s Kasai region could spark a mass displacement, said the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) at a press briefing today at the United Nations in Geneva.
“In recent days, UNHCR has received reports of conflict linked with militia trying to replace a traditional community leader with one of its members in the Nteenda village in Kasai Central province”, said UNHCR’s spokesperson Babar Baloch.
He added that “in the past month, more than 24,000 people have fled three separate conflicts related to land disputes, clashes over resources, and confrontation between different ethnic groups, authorities and militias”.
UNHCR is calling for renewed focus on the Kasai region in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to restore peace and defuse tensions.
In 2017, violence in the Kasai region led to the internal displacement of 1.4 million people within the DRC and some 35,000 refugees seeking safety in neighboring Angola.
“The newly displaced report killings, rape, torture, looting and burning of the homes in the recent weeks. Dozens of people have arrived with injuries. There are many children, women and elderly among the newly displaced”, according to UNHCR’s spokesperson.
UNHCR is currently registering displaced people as well as host community members, whose capacity to help and host the displaced is often limited due to the extreme poverty and high levels of malnutrition in the area. The UN Refugee Agency is helping the survivors of sexual violence and referring them for medical care and psycho-social support.
“In an ongoing relief effort, UNHCR has so far distributed items including plastic sheeting, blankets, soap, cooking kits to more than 4,000 people. Thousands have also received shelter kits and cash assistance to buy food to meet their most urgent needs”, Babar Baloch said.
UNHCR is appealing for the allocation of resources to respond to the needs of displaced Congolese.
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying
- Wide shot, Press briefing, Palais des Nations
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Babar Baloch, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “In recent days, UNHCR has received reports of conflict linked with militia trying to replace a traditional community leader with one of its members in the Nteenda village in Kasai Central province”.
- Wide shot, podium
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Babar Baloch, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “In the past month, more than 24,000 people have fled three separate conflicts related to land disputes, clashes over resources, and confrontation between different ethnic groups, authorities and militias”.
- Close-up, cameraman
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Babar Baloch, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “The newly displaced report killings, rape, torture, looting and burning of the homes in the recent weeks. Dozens of people have arrived with injuries. There are many children, women and elderly among the newly displaced”.
- Medium shot, journalists in Press Room III, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Babar Baloch, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “In an ongoing relief effort, UNHCR has so far distributed items including plastic sheeting, blankets, soap, cooking kits to more than 4,000 people. Thousands have also received shelter kits and cash assistance to buy food to meet their most urgent needs”.
- Medium shot, journalists in Press Room III, Palais des Nations.
- Close up, hands with sanitizer bottle
- Wide shot, journalists in Press Room
- Medium shot, journalists in Press Room
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN rights chief urges de-escalation in Tigray amid rising tensions and violence.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO , OHCHR
In Sudan, sick and starving children ‘wasting away’ – UN humanitarians
Relentless violence, famine and disease are picking off Sudan’s children while attacks on healthcare and a lack of aid access hamper efforts to help them, UN humanitarian agencies warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Monday gave an update to the Human Rights Council on the situation in El Fasher, Sudan.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“A series of new Israeli operations and settlement plans in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, risk seriously undermining the viability of a Palestinian state and the realisation of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination,” the UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva today.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNIS
UN voices concern over chemical spraying incident on Lebanon’s Blue Line
The UN reiterated concerns on Friday at reports that Israeli forces sprayed herbicide over areas north of the Blue Line separating Lebanon from Israel. The development poses a “serious humanitarian risk” to civilians living there, said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), briefing journalists in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Five patients evacuated as Rafah reopens while ‘too many stayed behind’ – WHO
As time is running out for thousands of critically ill patients in Gaza, hope is alive for medical evacuations to increase with the reopening of the Rafah crossing in the southern part of the Strip, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG , OHCHR
This Sunday marks five years of crisis in Myanmar. Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights, and James Rodehaver, chief of the Myanmar team, today spoke on the conduct of recent military-imposed elections, deploring the failure to respect the fundamental human rights of the country’s citizens. The process served only to exacerbate violence and societal polarization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Brutal Gaza war erased years of progress on education, in an “assault on the future itself” – UNICEF
Restoring Gaza’s shattered education system is “lifesaving” and getting children back into schools must be an immediate priority, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , HRC
Volker Türk, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner, made the following remarks during a briefing to a Special Session on Iran at the Human Rights Council.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , UNOPS , UNIS
Amid the launch of President Trump's Board of Peace and reconstruction talks on Gaza, UN aid agencies insisted on Friday that what Gazans need most is immediate relief from the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe there.
2
6
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences , Images | HRC
At UN, war crimes probe pledges to continue to work for all impacted by Hamas-Israel conflict
As President Trump launched the international Board of Peace plan for Gaza on Thursday, top independent rights experts tasked by the UN Human Rights Council with investigating grave abuses linked to the Hamas-Israel war pledged to continue their work seeking justice and accountability for all.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said Tuesday UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk was outraged by the repeated large-scale attacks by the Russian Federation on energy infrastructure in Ukraine.