The UN warns that one in four people will be affected in 2023 by the crises that affect the DRC

The ICRC warns of a "human disaster" due to the fighting in the east between the Army and the M23 rebels

MADRID, 7 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Around a quarter of the population of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which represents 26.4 million people, could need humanitarian aid in 2023 given the deepening of the numerous crises that are shaking the African country, according to what has been indicated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The agency has indicated that millions of Congolese, mostly residing in the east of the country, will continue next year affected by food insecurity, forced displacement, malnutrition and epidemics, which causes them to lose their livelihoods.

Nearly 4.9 million people have received food aid during the first eleven months of the year, while 1.7 million people in a situation of malnutrition, including thousands of children, have received nutritional support.

"National and international NGOs and UN agencies work hard to provide the most vulnerable with water, medicine, food, sanitation and protection so that they can live with dignity," declared the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the DRC, Bruno Lemarquis. .

"We must also commit ourselves, as soon as there is an opportunity, in the search for lasting solutions, to work with development and peace actors. It is essential that efforts be combined at the national and international level to avoid conflicts and achieve the return of peace, which is the greatest wish of the affected populations to give the best response to the humanitarian crisis they are facing", he concluded.

For its part, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned of the "human disaster" caused by the resumption of fighting in October between the Congolese Army and the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group, which has led to the displacement of thousands of people in the province of North Kivu (east).

"I have returned from Nyiragongo outraged by the human disaster that these months of conflict have caused. Once again it is the civilians who pay the price," said the head of the agency's delegation in the DRC, Rachel Bernhard. "These communities have been uprooted from their land, which is their only livelihood. They urgently need to be able to return to start farming again," she explained.

The territory of Nyiragongo currently hosts more than 177,400 displaced people, according to UN data. Most have taken refuge in the villages of Kibati and Kanyaruchinya, located 50 kilometers from Rutshuru, the epicenter of the fighting.

Francine Twizeye, 33, explains that she has nine children to feed and regrets that "she has to send them to beg in the market and on the roads." "It's hard for me to get enough food," she says. Along these lines, Joséphine Habakurama, 32, maintains that "when there is not enough food, we give our share to the children."

Sifa Rehama, a mother of seven children, lives in a two-meter-square hut covered with plastic. "I have covered my house with plastic. When you are displaced there is no choice. You have to get by with what you have," she says. "My husband, my three small children and I sleep here. The three oldest have to take care of themselves and sleep with neighbors in another camp," she adds.

The ICRC has also indicated that while aid generally reaches Nyiragongo, in Lubero, where there are 98,000 displaced people, humanitarian agencies are finding it difficult to carry out their work due to the fighting and the lack of security guarantees.

The UN estimates that more than 280,000 people have fled their homes since the outbreak of fighting in March 2022, although the head of the ICRC sub-delegation in North Kivu, Anne-Sylvie Linder, pointed out that "the number of displaced increases daily."

"If the fighting does not stop, we are going to face a humanitarian crisis that will be difficult to control. We once again remind all parties to the conflict of their obligation under Humanitarian Law to protect civilians and their property," he stressed.