The agency details that nearly 100,000 people have been displaced in ten days in North Kivu
Nov. 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that the wave of displacement due to the upsurge in violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has caused thousands of people to flee their homes , poses a “deadly threat” to children, including those residing in displacement camps.
The organization has highlighted that the worsening of the crisis is causing limitations in humanitarian access in the camps, especially due to the increase in those displaced by the recent offensives of the rebel group March 23 Movement (M23) in the territory of Rutshuru, in North Kivu province.
“The internally displaced person camps are fraught with danger,” warned UNICEF’s Director of Emergencies, Dounia Dekhili. “In addition to the threat of cholera, children and young people are at risk of gender-based violence in extremely crowded camps,” she said.
Thus, it has detailed that nearly 100,000 people have arrived in displaced persons camps in the area over the last ten days, some of them set up hastily to accommodate the victims, without complying with security and cleanliness guarantees to avoid possible disease outbreaks.
These displaced people join the nearly 200,000 people who have fled their homes since the upsurge in fighting at the end of March 2022, in the midst of a diplomatic crisis between the DRC and Rwanda due to the alleged support of the latter country to the operations of the M23.
“There are around 190 children who have been separated from their families or carers during the chaos of recent displacement and so far we have reunited 80 with their families in Nyiragongo territory,” Dekhili said.
“More cases of unaccompanied children and children associated with armed conflict are likely to emerge as the crisis unfolds. Giving people clean water, latrines and enough food is proving to be a major challenge. It is no exaggeration to say that the lives of thousands of people living in these camps are in grave danger,” he stressed.
In this way, the head of the UNICEF field office in Goma, Jean Metenier, has detailed that “the priorities are to provide access to drinking water and hygiene, work with agencies and partners to deliver food and improve the quality of accommodation “.
“We ask all parties to the conflict not to resort to violence, protect children and their parents and seek peace. The suffering must end immediately,” he settled, according to a statement published by the agency on its website.
The M23 has been accused since November 2021 of carrying out attacks against DRC Army positions in North Kivu, seven years after the parties reached a truce. United Nations experts have accused Uganda and Rwanda of supporting the rebels, although both countries have denied this.
