UNICEF DR Congo Humanitarian Situation Report - 31 December 2023

ReliefWeb: Updates by Country 30.01.2024 23:00 Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo Source: UN Children's Fund Please refer to the attached file. Highlights Escalating armed conflict and inter-communal clashes in the eastern provinces have led to extensive displacement and heightened humanitarian needs. In North Kivu, the crisis has surpassed the previous peak in January 2023, with the current count at 1.1 million internally displaced people, significantly up from 591,000 in August 2023. Massive population movements in North Kivu have led to a 51% increase in cholera cases within a month, resulting in the worst outbreak in six years. 65% of the cases in the eastern provinces are children. Since June 2023, UNICEF has reached nearly 1.5 million people across the crisis-affected areas representing 53 per cent per cent of the ambitious scale-up target. UNICEF received less than 4 per cent of the funding required since the declaration of the L3 scale up in June 2023. Funding remains a challenge to attaining the life-saving and acute protection assistance scale-up targets. Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs The situation continues to deteriorate dramatically in Ituri and North Kivu with armed conflict and inter-communal clashes generating massive displacement and increased humanitarian needs. South Kivu is also increasingly affected as the fighting extends south causing population movement towards Kirotshe. During the reporting period, heavy fighting between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its allies and non-state armed groups continued in many areas of North Kivu, notably in Masisi and Rutshuru. The M23 armed group extended its area of influence as East Africa Community troops started to withdraw. In November 2023, the M23 took control of the city of Mweso. Combat led to new population displacements, mainly in Masisi, from which a significant number of people arrived in Sake. Combat in Rutshuru also led to new displacement towards Kanyabayonga in Lubero. The escalation of the conflict, including violence towards civilians, has resulted in significant population movements, a deteriorating humanitarian situation, a worsening protection situation for children and women, and increased access constraints. The number of new internally displaced people caused by the M23 crisis is higher than in January 2023 – which was the previous peak. There are now 1.1 million IDPs up from 591,000 in August 2023. As of 20 November 2023, there were 569,909 new IDPs in Goma, Masisi, Rutshuru, Lubero, Walikale and Nyiragongo territories, 1 a 30 per cent increase from 9 November. Massive new waves of IDPs arrived in Sake and in sites in western Goma, reflecting a situation similar to that in February 2023. Due to the deteriorating situation in the Hauts Plateaux in Minova in South Kivu, UNICEF extended its child protection interventions to the localities of Numbi, Kalungu and Bulenga. Massive population movements have contributed to the spread of cholera. The growing number of IDPs in already overcrowded sites, limited access to certain areas, and a lack of capacity to meet needs has resulted in a 51 per cent increase in cholera cases in North Kivu over the past month . The most impacted areas are the IDP sites in Nyiragingo, Kitchanga/Mweso, Kibirizi and Goma. The situation has given rise to the worst cholera outbreak in six years with 42,672 suspected cases and 357 deaths. 2 North Kivu is the hardest hit, representing over 65 per cent of all cases countrywide – 65 per cent of these cases concern children under 18 year of age and over 25 per cent concern children under 5 years of age. DRC is currently reporting the highest number of suspected cholera cases and deaths in West and Central Africa, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of cholera transmissions and close to 60 per cent of deaths.3 Combat has directly impacted the humanitarian response in some places. The Kilolirwe health centre was once again looted, and rapid response health supplies were plundered; it remains non-functional. In Beni in North Kivu and in Ituri attacks on civilians by NSAGs have also continued, provoking new displacements. NSAGs have made incursions into the villages of Mabuo and Wimbandere near Biakato in Mambasa. Killing and kidnapping of civilians and looting of property has been reported. The unpredictability of NSAG attacks in this area, and the impossibility of negotiating access, makes any intervention difficult. In the rest of Ituri, Djugu and Mahagi remain insecure as the result of local militia activity, leading to population movements and increased needs. Humanitarian access continues to be hampered not only by fighting but also by the rainy season. In Ituri, accessing communities and delivering humanitarian goods has become a real challenge as trucks often get stuck for days. The intensification of military operations in North Kivu continued to increase child protection risks and reduced the possibilities for children recruited by armed groups to escape. This is to due difficulties in accessing conflict areas and the establishment of multiple checkpoints between Rutshuru and Masisi. In the Petit Nord, lack of access to combat areas remains a concern both in terms of being able to provide protection services to children and of being able document and verify grave violations against them. In Ituri, the continued activity of armed groups, particularly the Allied Democratic Forces in the southern territories continues to impact children, with an increased number of verified cases of children being recruited and used by armed groups between October and December . Similarly, in the areas affected by ADF activity in North Kivu, despite the intensification of the conflict and violent attacks, no children released from ADF were referred to UNICEF and its partners for support and protection services, which is of particular concern. In South Kivu, in the Hauts Plateaux area of Kalehe, the recruitment and the use of children by armed groups remains a grave concern.

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