86,000 forcibly displaced in eastern DRC, UN calls for 'immediate cease' of attacks against civilians

The United Nations has called for an “immediate cease” to attacks by multiple armed groups on civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Attacks escalated across the east of the country, prompting the UN Security Council to discuss the matter at the end of last month.

“We are concerned over the deteriorating security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the increase of attacks against civilians by the Cooperative for Development of the Congo (CODECO) and the M23 as well as the on-going presence of other foreign armed groups, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Red Tabara and the Forces Démocratique pour la libération de Rwanda (FDLR), which continue to pose a threat to regional stability,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric in a statement issued on Saturday, June 11.

Tensions erupted last week after M23 rebels attacked Congolese forces near Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo bordering Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania.

The current conflict has caused a massive wave of displacement and migration, with at least 75,000 people internally displaced, and more than 11,000 people crossing the border into Uganda as of May 30.

The Red Cross also announced last week that at least 27 civilians were killed by members of a notorious rebel group - the Allied Democratic Forces - in the area in Sunday's attack. AFP also reported that bandits killed seven people, four men and three women, last Wednesday night in the Rujagati camp for displaced people.

According to UNHCR, “At least 170,000 civilians have been displaced, often repeatedly since an escalation of fighting in eastern DRC from November 2021. The latest wave of violence has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes in search of relative safety in different parts of the province, including Goma. Over the past week alone, some 7,000 have also reportedly crossed over to neighboring Uganda – a country already hosting more than 1.5 million refugees.”

UNHCR considers that with 5.6 million displaced people, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to the largest internal displacement in Africa.

The UN Refugee Agency also stated that it urgently needs $5 million to strengthen the protection and humanitarian response in North Kivu, eastern DRC, noting that only 16 percent of the $225 million requested has been funded. In Uganda, UNHCR and partners recently appealed for $35 million to respond to the urgent needs of the thousands of refugees who arrived this year from the DRC.

In her briefing to the UN Security Council last week, Martha Ama Akiya Bobby, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, stressed, “It is imperative that this Council lend its full weight to ongoing regional efforts to defuse the situation and bring an end to the M23 insurgency once and for all.”

The United Nations and Congolese forces have long struggled to contain the violence in the east led by dozens of armed groups, a conflict with national and ethnic dimensions.

“We reaffirm our strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the DRC and strongly condemn the use of proxies,” the UN spokesperson said on Saturday.