The internet also remains down in the provincial capital and only mobile phone networks are functioning, with M23 fighters apparently in control of “a significant portion of the city” after intense clashes with the Congolese army, UN agencies reported on Wednesday. Aid teams from the UN World Health Organization (WHO) “cannot move...
As fighting intensifies between the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group and Congolese forces, UN chief of Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix underscored the critical state of the battle for eastern DRC’s regional capital Goma, describing the crisis as “volatile and dangerous”....
Dead bodies lie in the streets, hospitals are overwhelmed and there has been an uptick in reports of sexual violence, rape and looting. “Roads are blocked, ports are closed and those crossing Lake Kivu risk their lives in makeshift boats,” said Shelley Thakral, spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme...
Intensifying hostilities in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo involving the non-state armed group M23 have caused further mass displacement in the mineral-rich region, with fears that the regional capital Goma could come under attack, UN agencies warned on Friday....
The UN mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, is relocating administrative staff and others in North Kivu that can continue performing their duties from elsewhere in response to the deteriorating security situation and intensifying hostilities involving the non-State armed group M23, a Rwandan-backed movement fighting against the Congolese Government. “This precautionary...
“We are deeply alarmed at the heightened risk of an attack by the M23 armed group on Goma, the capital of North Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo…Any such attack on Goma risks catastrophic impacts on hundreds of thousands of civilians, putting them at heightened exposure to human...
The plan was announced by the High Representative for the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), a platform for intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation. Miguel Ángel Moratinos called antisemitism – prejudice or hatred towards Jews – “a toxic ideology with deep roots in bigotry and racism that still plagues our world manifesting...
Bintou Keita, who also heads the UN Stabilization Mission in the DRC, known as MONUSCO, reported on the instability in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, particularly operations by four armed groups: ADF, M23, CODECO and Zaïre. She applauded efforts to quell the violence there and in the wider region, highlighting...
The alert from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) follows a new dire assessment from UN-partnered food insecurity experts has shown the hunger crisis is affecting much of the vast central African nation. The embattled east is a particular concern, where the situation is deteriorating after...
“We need to collectively remain engaged in assisting the country on its path to peace and stability,” said Bintou Keita, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the DRC and head of the UN Mission there, MONUSCO. Ceasefire and dialogue ‘framework’ There has been a notable reduction in fighting among warring parties...
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has recorded more than 21,000 suspected cases of the viral disease, including over 5,000 confirmed cases and 700 deaths. Over the past week, UNICEF received its first vaccine shipments totalling 215,000 doses, with more expected to arrive soon. Supplies and training Meanwhile,...
The virus is still circulating globally but relatively few countries are following infections closely, meaning the actual threat due to the coronavirus and its variants could be anything from two to 19 times higher than what is being reported to WHO. The agency’s COVID focal point, Dr Maria Van Kerhove,...