This year again, the humanitarian crisis remains complex in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The United Nations, international NGOs and the authorities have announced that they need nearly 2 billion dollars to respond to the food crisis aggravated by poverty, armed violence in the east of the country, epidemics and malnutrition. This humanitarian response plan was launched on Thursday February 17 in Kinshasa, but there is little hope of mobilizing the requested funds.
With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa
One billion 880 million dollars sought by the government and humanitarians. This large sum should make it possible to assist nearly 9 million people divided into 5 priority categories listed here by Suzanna Tkalec, the United Nations humanitarian officer in the country.
” These are displaced people, returnees, refugees and communities, children, people at risk and survivors of gender-based violence, pregnant and breastfeeding women, people living with disabilities “.
Certain parameters have not changed: with 27 million people, or a quarter of its population living in this situation, the DRC is almost the country with the highest number of people living in food insecurity in the world.
It is also the most affected by the internal displacement of populations. The United Nations has counted more than 5 million displaced people. The picture is alarming, but donors are not sure they can meet the needs. Last year, only 39% were mobilized. Joah Heffinck, donor representative.
” It won’t be possible to have that many. We are really in competition with many other crises in the world. We have to think carefully about where the priorities are to put the funds “.
Resources are therefore limited. Another major challenge for humanitarians is the security issue. In 2021, seven agents were killed and another 30 kidnapped.