Agence France-Presse :
International non-governmental organizations warned Thursday that more than 2,750 civilians have been killed since the beginning of the year in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, calling for an urgent humanitarian mobilization.
This death toll was stated in a statement issued by the International NGO Forum in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The forum based its statement on figures from the International Non-Governmental Security Organization (INSO) concerned with human security.
The forum includes at least 124 international NGOs operating in the DRC, according to the statement.
The forum stated that “in many areas, the presence of active non-state armed groups exacerbates the ongoing cycle of violence, leading to the displacement of large numbers of the population and exacerbating the already fragile humanitarian situation.”
For its part, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned Monday of an “outbreak of violence” and “an increase in humanitarian needs” in eastern DRC. The United Nations listed the severity of this crisis at the “highest level”.
Two days later, MSF called for a “rapid and concrete increase” in humanitarian aid for eastern DRC “in the face of a crisis of historic proportions in North Kivu,” one of the areas hardest hit by nearly 30 years of violence.
In its statement, the International NGO Forum noted a “rapid and alarming deterioration” of the humanitarian situation in the east of the country. The organizations expressed “concern about the shrinking humanitarian space,” noting that this is linked to the “return of bloody violence” resulting from “conflicts and the militarization of the region.”
In addition to increasing humanitarian aid, the organizations called on the international community to “strengthen its political and diplomatic commitment with the aim of finding a solution and ending this permanent cycle of violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”