Friday April 19, 2024

Goma, DR Congo
The UN’s humanitarian coordinator in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bruno Lemarquis, launched an urgent appeal on Friday in Goma (East) for more assistance for millions of people affected by conflict.
“The needs are immense and exceed what we are able to provide,” Mr. Lemarquis, who was accompanied on his visit to Goma by the “group of ambassadors from donor countries” in the DRC, told the press.
According to him, in the 4th month of the year, only “just over 15% of the resources” needed to provide assistance to 8.7 million Congolese, mainly in the East, have been mobilized.
The region is plagued by violence from numerous armed groups, with the province of North Kivu, of which Goma is the capital, particularly affected by a rebellion led by the M23, a Rwandan-backed movement that has seized vast swathes of territory.
The total amount of the humanitarian assistance plan for 2024 is 2.6 billion dollars, said Bruno Lemarquis.
However, “we don’t have the resources to provide an adequate response and we are forced to prioritize”, he lamented, saying he had observed “over the last 10 years a trend of underfunding of humanitarian action in the DRC”.

“There are so many crises in the world that perhaps we need to speak out more loudly about the crisis in the DRC”, he added, calling for the problem to be “tackled at source”.

Alongside him, Belgium’s ambassador to the DRC, Roxane de Bilderling, also noted that “the military side (…) is not solving” the conflict. “It’s getting worse and worse”, she added.
But the Congolese Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Modeste Mutinga, also pointed out the limits of “the diplomatic solution” and criticized the international community for not imposing sanctions on Rwanda, considered by Kinshasa as an “aggressor”.
“Congolese opinion has the impression that this is some kind of plot against the DRC”, he said.

Humaniterre with AFP