1mln children in DR Congo at risk of famine due to years of conflict
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WHO calls the situation “catastrophic” and says this is overwhelming water and sanitation systems, which is leading to disease outbreaks like cholera, measles, and pox.
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Thousands fleeing the continuing conflict between government forces and M23 rebels have sought shelter in the city of Goma (AP)
Over one million children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are facing a risk of acute malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization, which added that this was the result of increasing food insecurity after years of conflict.
WHO called the situation “catastrophic” and said that it is overwhelming water and sanitation systems, which, in turn, is leading to disease outbreaks like cholera, measles, and pox.
Environmental disasters like severe flooding and landslides, in addition to long-simmering conflicts, have left people's needs in the country soaring.
Amid escalating violence and displacement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, hunger & malnutrition are spiking.@UNICEF is providing vital assistance to vulnerable families, transforming lives and restoring hope. https://t.co/w1hxq3RKui pic.twitter.com/bMF7HxHJ59
— United Nations (@UN) May 27, 2024
According to WHO, the African nation with over 25 million people impacted has the world’s highest number of people in need of humanitarian aid amid severe underfunding.
It noted that aid is "severely constrained by military presence around displacement sites and health facilities, bureaucratic impediments, and roadblocks disrupting aid delivery," as it urged immediate action and “sustained and unimpeded access” to basic needs while calling on parties to work together to restore peace.
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Back in June, militia members killed over 20 civilians in a village located in the gold-rich Ituri province of northeastern DRC, while back in March, the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group unleashed a wave of raids in the east, killing at least 15 people and forcing hundreds to flee.
The UN believes that around 3,000 people were murdered in the war between June 2022 and July 2023. The DRC government, however, sets the death toll at 180, a statistic that has remained constant since October 2022.
As for the East of Congo, it is plagued by dozens of armed groups, many of which are a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s.
Ituri province is one of eastern DR Congo's violence hotspots, where attacks claiming dozens of lives are common.
