DRC: Funds urgently needed as humanitarian appeal remains less than 25 per cent funded
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, today wrapped up a four-day mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by calling on the world “not to forget the DRC, where millions of girls, boys, women and men are suffering from violence, diseases, and malnutrition.”
During two days of travel outside of the capital Kinshasa, Mr. O’Brien visited some of the communities most affected by the massive crisis including Tshikapa in the Kasai region, where a year of conflict has led to serious human rights abuses and displaced some 1.4 million people, pushing the number of people displaced within the DRC to 3.8 million – the most in Africa. The violence in the five provinces that make up the Kasai region has also pushed thousands of children out of school. Some 600 cases of sexual-based violence have been reported since last year, while several schools and health clinics have been commandeered into temporary shelter for the displaced.
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