United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, says it is “appalled by a series of deadly attacks” on displaced people in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The agency’s spokesperson, Boris Cheshirkov, told journalists on Tuesday in Geneva.
In the latest incident carried out by armed groups, Cheshirkov cited local authorities in saying that 26 people were killed on Sunday at Ndjala site in the Drodro health zone in Ituri province. “Ten women and nine children were among the dead and 11 people were wounded. The attackers used guns, machetes and knives”, he told journalists at the UN in Geneva.
Since November 19, this is the fourth attack on IDPs in Ituri Province – host to 1.7 million displaced people.
This simply tends to indicate that the UN has failed to deliver on its promise to do ‘utmost to prevent and mitigate any risk of violence’ in DR Congo. Despite the relatively peaceful passage of December 2018’s presidential election in the troubled African country, UN Special Representative to the country told the Security Council she “remained concerned” over developments in the east, where dozens of armed groups continue to operate.
In briefing the Security Council in March 2019, Laila Zerrougui, said that in North Kivu the ongoing deadly Ebola outbreak in the Grand Nord region, was the second-largest in history; and militias continued to attack civilians and Government forces – known by the French acronym FARDC – as well as humanitarian workers and personnel from the UN Stabilisation Mission (MONUSCO), which she also heads.
She said MONUSCO was “sparing no effort” to protect civilians and to support FARDC and national police units. Following recent attacks against Ebola response centres in Butembo and Katwa, MONUSCO has redeployed additional personnel for security assistance and to address community resistance to the response, she told the Council.
Meanwhile, preparations continue in the area for upcoming national and provincial elections at the end of March: “We will be doing our utmost to prevent and mitigate any risk of violence throughout this politically sensitive period”, spelled out Ms. Zerrougui.
Turning to South Kivu, she noted that clashes have “flared up” between community-based militias, “resulting in significant displacements of the population, with the potential of further deterioration”.
To address this, she said MONUSCO was supporting a reinforced Government presence in addition to “our own Standing Combat Deployment, and our intercommunal mediation efforts”. Ms. Zerrougui noted that while the Government has shown “a genuine willingness” to respond quickly, its national security forces need bolstering.
“In North and South Kivu”, she lamented, “structural violence is profoundly entrenched, and conflict dynamics related to identity, access to land and resources, and regional issues have taken deep root in the fabric of everyday life”.
To sustainably address this, the UN envoy asserted that “concentrated engagement will be needed in the period ahead”.
Ms. Zerrougui also updated the Council on the mass inter-communal killings around Yumbi in the west, on the banks of the Congo, which took place in mid-December, with her office and UN human rights workers later documenting 535 deaths, 111 wounded, 19,000 displaced and destruction of many homes and livelihoods. It was “a troubling reminder of how quickly violence can escalate”, she said.
She said the Government needed to be encouraged to better prevent and address potential causes of violent conflict overall. The MONUSCO head encouraged the Council to continue supporting what has been achieved in the country, as well as to assist the DRC in addressing its remaining threats to peace and security.
Despite protests by some parties and politicians who lost out, over the conduct and results of elections held on 30 December, Ms. Zerrougui told the Council that it was the first peaceful handover since independence, and “most Congolese citizens were pleased to welcome the inauguration of President Tshisekedi”.
Calling it “a decisive step to establish democracy and rule of law” in DRC, the MONUSCO head acknowledged that the reactions of “certain political parties and their supporters” to the outcomes of senatorial elections last week “are a concern”, as “they reveal the fragility of the political process in the country”.
Ms. Zerrougui confirmed that the President Felix Tshisekedi’s commitment to work towards consolidating peace, the rule of law, democracy and human rights, was being bolstered by “tangible actions”, specifically in his efforts towards “allaying tensions”.
She noted the recent release of some political prisoners, adding that politicians had been meeting freely throughout the country “without obstruction” and the return of political exiles was expected.
In conclusion, Ms. Zerrougui urged the Council “to support the Government in its efforts to honour the expectations of the Congolese population; to advance political dialogue and collaboration; and to seize the opportunities which we are now seeing for a sustainable reduction of armed groups in some areas”.
The plight of women
Briefing by teleconference from the capital Kinshasa, Anny Tengandide Modi, of UN Women’s African Women Leaders Network updated the Council of the “situation and plight of women and girls in the DRC”.
She noted the Council’s commitment in acknowledging the leadership of African women in the peace and security field by adopting resolution 2457 in February 2019 and spoke at length on the elections.
Ms. Modi voiced a number of concerns, including the detention of protestors “on flimsy grounds”, a lack of awareness-raising on the electoral process and “many obstacles to the participation of women”.
“Despite these shortcomings”, she pronounced the DRC elections “a benchmark for the region and the DRC is at a historical and decisive juncture”, underscoring the importance “that women, particularly young women, are engaged not just in voting, but on consultations in peace” to support the political process and guarantee the country’s stability.
She updated that “the DRC has put provisions in place for the representation of women in the security sector in particular to boost the number of women in the armed forces and the police” as part of ongoing reforms.
‘Shocked, outraged’
UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the DRC, David McLachlan-Karr, expressed his anger, saying, “I am shocked, outraged and deeply saddened by these repeated attacks on civilians who are forced to leave their homes to seek safety from the violence”.
“It is imperative to protect these populations. I reiterate that these women, men and children must be allowed to live in peace”, he underscored.
The UN official reminded that the attacks are “violations of international humanitarian law and the 2009 Kampala Convention on IDPs”.
“They must stop immediately. I don’t want to count anymore the number of attacks that these vulnerable people are already enduring”, he said.
Humanitarian aid is being deployed rapidly to assist them.
On November 21, a militia group attacked Drodro, another site for displaced people, leaving 44 dead and over 1,200 shelters destroyed. They also attacked a site at Tché, wrecking almost 1,000 shelters, according to authorities.
As many as 20,000 inhabitants fled to Rhoe, seeking safety near the military base of the UN Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), which doubled in size from 21,000 to 40,500 in under 48 hours – forcing the newly arrived families to sleep in the open.
The main needs are food, shelter, health care and psychosocial assistance.
Insecurity rife
On November 14, in the country’s east, an armed group attacked a displaced people’s site at Mikenge town in South Kivu, killing six children and a pregnant woman while wounding eight others by machetes and bullets.
The inhabitants fled and their shelters were destroyed.
The attacks, which stem in part from inter-communal tensions, compound problems faced by people who are internally displaced.
The theft of livestock, which often accompanies the raids, deepens economic insecurity and the violence adds to the distress of people who have been forced to flee their homes at least once. It also instills fear in local populations.
A staggering 5.6 million people have been forced to flee their homes in the DRC, an increase of 400,000 people compared to early 2021.
While the majority live among host communities, more than 330,000 are sheltered in displacement sites.
“UNHCR calls on all parties to respect the civilian and humanitarian character of displacement sites, where both IDPs and the local population are being attacked in their homes…[and] to ensure access to the locations so that humanitarian actors can provide essential assistance”, said Cheshirkov.
The UN refugee agency is seeking further financial support for its underfunded operations to better support IDPs.
“We have received just 52 per cent of the $204.8 million required to provide life-saving assistance to people of concern in DRC”, the UNCHR spokesperson updated the journalists.
