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UNHCR gravely concerned by decease toll of displaced in DR Congo'due south east

This is a summary of what was said past UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNHCR provides lifesaving assistance despite new flare ups of violence

Angela N'Habimana, 67, and her grandson Réponse are staying in a customs shelter in Kiwanja, Rutshuru Territory, after fleeing violence in their village in North Kivu province, DR Congo.  © UNHCR/Sanne Biesmans

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is securely saddened and gravely concerned by the accumulating death toll and suffering of civilians, including forcibly displaced people, in brutal attacks in DR Congo'due south eastern provinces.

This unbearable state of affairs is continuing to escalate and must no longer exist ignored.

This month, simultaneous attacks by armed groups in Ituri Province have left eleven people dead and 250 homes looted and burned.

Between Feb and June this year, UNHCR and partners recorded over 800 deaths from firearm attacks and machete raids on local communities in Ituri. At least 715 of these victims had been sheltering in internal displacement sites or were killed every bit they returned home having previously fled violence. In June alone, 97 returning or displaced people were killed in attacks that included abductions, looting and called-for of homes.

More than than 20,700 people have been driven from their homes past such raids, which are also fuelling acute food insecurity in Ituri, a fertile region where development has been halted by decades of intercommunal clashes, stealing livelihoods from families and future generations.

In North Kivu, the Kashuga settlement for internally displaced people in Masisi territory was torn apart in June by armed men in a raid that left viii dead and at least seven others grievously injured by firearms.

In recent weeks, fighting between the Congolese Regular army and the M23 group in North Kivu Province has displaced more than than 160,000 people across Rutshuru and Nyiragongo territories. The redeployment of authorities troops to this conflict has created power vacuums and a fragile security environment in both Ituri and Northward Kivu. Strings of coordinated attacks by multiple militia groups are terrorizing communities on a daily basis in the eastern provinces.

Insecurity compounds the existing challenge of intercommunal strife, the lack of infrastructure and an absenteeism of institutions in the region. It too fuels intensified cycles of violence, generating farther instability and undermining peace and development efforts. Such attacks are increasing the difficulties for UNHCR and partners in providing life-saving assistance to these vulnerable communities.

UNHCR's performance in DRC has received just nineteen per cent of the U.s.a. $225 one thousand thousand required to respond to the increasing needs of refugee and displaced people with urgent and life-saving support. This budget was based on the needs at the kickoff of the twelvemonth. Significant additional resources are urgently required to match the soaring needs of newly displaced populations.

UNHCR calls on all parties in the strongest terms for the firsthand cessation of this senseless violence, which is forcing the displacement of tens of thousands. We also call for the respect of international humanitarian and human rights law to protect civilians and humanitarian workers from violence, and to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice immediately.

More than v.half-dozen million people are displaced in the DRC, making it the largest population of internally displaced people on the African continent and among the largest worldwide.

For more than data on this topic, please contact:

  • In DR Congo, Joel Smith, [email protected], +243825257774
  • In Pretoria (regional), Hélène Caux, [email protected], +27 82 376 5190
  • In Geneva, Matthew Saltmarsh, [email protected], +41 22 739 7943
  • In New York, Kathryn Mahoney, [email protected], +1 347 443 764

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