21 million people need humanitarian aid in DRC: Oxfam France

DRC

Kinshasa – More than 21 million people need humanitarian aid in the Democratic Republic of Congo – nearly one-fifth of the population, NGO Oxfam France said on Thursday.

The DRC is experiencing “one of the most serious and forgotten humanitarian crises in the world” and it “continues to worsen”, the aid charity said.

The crisis is particularly severe in the east of the vast central African country – a region rich in natural resources that has been plagued by conflict for three decades.

Violence intensified early this year when the M23 armed group, backed by neighbouring Rwanda, seized the major eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu in a lightning offensive.

More than 1.6 million people have had to flee their homes since the beginning of the year, bringing the total number of internally displaced people to 5.2 million.

That is the second highest number in the world after Sudan, according to aid agencies and the United Nations.

Food supplies are also critical, with “28 million people suffering from hunger”, while health services are overwhelmed and infrastructure destroyed.

Sexual violence has reached alarming levels, with “one woman raped every four minutes”, Oxfam France said.

Despite this emergency, international aid is declining.

In one year, funding for critical aid has dropped by two-thirds, the charity said.

It urged an international conference on the African Great Lakes region, due to take place in France on October 30, to go “beyond declarations of intent”.

The conference aims to drum up an international response to the emergency in the eastern DRC and support efforts by Qatar and the United States to mediate in the conflict between the DRC government and the M23, according to the French foreign ministry.

Last year, 70 percent of aid to the DRC came from the United States, while France covered only 0.5 percent of the country’s humanitarian needs, Oxfam France said.

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