The UN humanitarian office on Tuesday said life is slowly returning to normal in parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo after a unilateral ceasefire declared by M23 rebels, but critical humanitarian access remains blocked as the airport remains closed.
Taking a question from Anadolu, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson Jens Laerke told a UN briefing in Geneva: “We have seen already from yesterday … that there was increased calm. We had some reports that some semblance of life is coming back. Some shops are reopening, and so on.”
He underlined, however, that there are other issues such as non-functional banking, and no aid flow through the airport.
“But people are more out and about, including the humanitarians,” he said.
“The problem with the airport has not been resolved yet. There is a security cordon around it, apparently at the moment, and we need to reopen that so we are engaging with the parties,” he said, referring to the M23 and the armed forces of Congo.
Laerke also stressed that the recent calm does not mean the dire needs of people are being met properly.
“That does not, by any means, mean that the humanitarian situation is actually getting any better, because we have this immense problem of getting medical and other aid into Goma,” he said, noting that an estimated 2,880 people have been wounded or hurt in the fighting.
He warned that the hospitals are still overwhelmed.
Lives in danger
Citing Bruno Lemarquis, resident coordinator in Congo, he said: “Every hour counts now, more people’s lives are in danger. … the survival of thousands of people depend on that reopening” of the airport for access to aid.
UN Women Geneva Director Sofia Calltorp, for her part, said abut the needs of women and girls: “I would just reiterate … (the need) to get the airport open and to make sure that we can get humanitarian aid in.”
Calltorp also voiced deep concern over the increased vulnerability of women and girls in eastern Congo, where the fighting has raged, saying the renewed escalation of violence has resulted in a “devastating humanitarian crisis that is disproportionately affecting women and girls.”
“Women and girls are bearing the direct and the indirect consequences, with their rights, safety and dignity increasingly under threat,” she said, as they face “increased levels of sexual and gender-based violence, with reports of rape and exploitation becoming tragically routine.”
She called for immediate action by all actors to end all sexual and gender-based violence and the impunity of perpetrators, and to support local women’s rights and women-led organizations, as well as increased humanitarian aid.
According to the World Health Organization, over 900 people were killed in the last two weeks in the eastern Congo city of Goma amid fighting between M23 rebels and the government forces.
The Alliance Fleuve Congo, a rebel alliance in eastern Congo, which includes M23 rebels, declared a ceasefire starting Tuesday.
The group said the ceasefire was due to humanitarian difficulties, accusing the government in Kinshasa of allegedly causing these.
The M23 rebels, who recently intensified clashes in eastern Congo, last week claimed control over Goma, capital of the North Kivu province.