Many years back, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) was in the grip of an emergency. Conflicts in the eastern province and also instability in other regions have hereby led to recurrent humanitarian crises and outbreaks of diseases. With a brutal history of violence now threatening to repeat itself in the democratic Congo. The human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo hasn't improved significantly.
It continues to be compounded by increased and persistent attacks by armed groups against civilians. Notably in the eastern provinces. In the year 2021, the United Nations joint Human Right Office (UNJHRO) documented about 7000 cases of human rights Violations and abuses throughout the country, with an overall decrease of nearly about 12% from the previous year. Abuses committed by the Allied Democratic Force (ADF) fight have increased. Their attacks on the civilians intensified in the North Kivu and Ituri, despite the state of siege in place since May 2021.
There are lots of significant increases in attacks on civilians by the Nyarura armed group and various Mai Mai groups in North Kivu, Maniema, Tanganyika, and South Kivu provinces.
Violence particularly has affected internally displaced persons. Dozens of people, women, and children have been killed in the attack against IDP sites in Ituri province. Thousands of others have been forced to move away from their locations. Since October 2021, there have been at least six attacks against the IDP sites affecting over 68 victims. In a report, Everyday emergency, silent suffering in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MSF concludes that most of the persons in need of humanitarian assistance in the country do not have access to it. Many of the communities are cut off from medical care due to the poor infrastructure, conflicts, and displacement, and adequate assistance is not being provided in the rural and conflict-affected areas by aid organizations and by the state. Violence against civilians, medical personnel, and property is commonplace, and also health providers are regularly required to suspend operations, leaving people deprived of the medical care which they urgently needed.
Several civilians have been murdered by rebel fighters in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the country’s army and civil society groups. A spokesman for the DRC army spoke to the AFP news agency that “more than a dozen” people have been killed in Saturday’s attack, while the Red Cross put the death toll at 24. The killing took place in a village called the Beni region in North Kivu province.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have been accused of killing thousands of civilians in DRC’s troubled east. After the attack, soldiers pursued the attackers and “neutralized seven ADF” and captured another, Mualushayi said. Local Red Cross head Philippe Bonane put the civilian death toll at 24.
The cruel killing comes after almost a month of relative calm in Beni, where the Congolese and Ugandan armies have been conducting joint military operations against the ADF since late November.
On Friday another Red Cross representative said that soldiers in the neighboring Ituri province had found 17 decapitated bodies, also believed to be victims of the ADF. About 120 armed groups in the eastern DRC and civilians were massacred. North Kivu and Ituri have been under a “state of siege” since last year. The army and police have replaced senior administrators in a bid to stem attacks by armed groups.
Disease outbreak
Diseases like malaria, cholera, and measles usually occur year by year in the eastern DRC. Yet the health system is unable to prevent or respond to them. And as a result of this, many people suffer and die, and this tragedy is that much of this human suffering could be prevented. Actions must be taken with immediate effect to this long-standing suffering.
MSF calls for armed actors to respond to the civilian humanitarians and also medical facilities and for better provision of humanitarian aid that is timely, appropriate, and flexible based solely on the people's needs rather than their location or any kind of a political agenda. The organization did call for the removal of the financial barrier to healthcare for the vulnerable persons in conflict-affected areas in the eastern DRC and improved the prevention and response system for disease epidemics.