Violent clashes between non-state armed groups and government forces have displaced more than 450,000 people in the last six weeks in Rutshuru and Masisi territories in North Kivu province. People arriving in the town of Sake, located near the provincial capital Goma, spoke of having to make harrowing choices, with men risking death to feed…
ICC President Piotr Hofmański was presenting the independent court’s annual report to the UN in New York. The ICC was established in July 2002 under a treaty known as the Rome Statute and is based in The Hague, in the Netherlands. Mr. Hofmański noted that he himself, along with Prosecutor Karim Khan was on the list, which…
“The Mission strongly condemns such behaviour which is not worthy of United Nations personnel,” MONUSCO said in a statement on Wednesday. Although the UN Mission did not give details, international media reported that eight South African “blue helmets” had been detained over allegations of sexual abuse. Assault and threats The personnel involved were deployed at…
OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva that out of 71 aid worker deaths recorded so far this year, 22 had been working in South Sudan and 19 in Sudan. The victims are overwhelmingly local humanitarians working on the front lines of the response, Mr. Laerke said. He stressed that attacks on aid workers…
Attacks on local populations, roadblocks and denial of humanitarian access, continue to fuel suffering in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, Special Representative Bintou Keita told the Security Council in New York. “As I speak today, over six million people remain displaced in [these places],” she stated, urging continued support for underfunded relief operations….
President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo thanked the international community and the UN for their support and partnership, adding that the gradual withdrawal of the mission, known as MONUSCO, is a necessary step to consolidate the progress made by DR Congo. He deplored peacekeeping missions deployed in one form another for almost 25 years in the DR…
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative in the country, Grant Leaity, issued the alert on Tuesday, revealing that youngsters in eastern DRC face daily atrocities, including rape, abduction and recruitment by armed groups. “I visited a centre in Beni and North Kivu for children released from armed groups where I met a couple of one-year-old twins….
Across the country, there have been at least 31,342 suspected or confirmed cholera cases and 230 deaths in the first seven months of 2023 – many of them children. The worst affected province, North Kivu, has seen more than 21,400 confirmed or suspected cases, including more than 8,000 children under five, according to the Ministry…
Speaking from Kinshasa, Dr. Jorge Castilla, WHO’s Senior Emergency Officer, told journalists at the regular briefing in Geneva there had been a major increase in displacement due to ongoing violence fuelled by armed groups, leaving around 7.4 million in need of health assistance. Disease and displacement Since March 2022, almost three million people have been…
“So far, the ceasefire between the M23 and the FARDC has held up relatively well and has contributed to some security gains”, said UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martha Pobee. “The relative calm in Rutshuru territory, for example, allowed more than 45,000 people from the Bishusha group to return home”, she said. She noted, however, that…
