Bintou Keita issued the message in an exclusive interview with UN News just a few days after briefing the Security Council on the situation in eastern DRC, expressing “compassion and empathy” for the long-suffering population. “We know that it is very difficult, and it is a daily difficulty,” she said,...
“There are discrepancies between the progress we see on paper and the reality we observe on the ground which continues to be marred with violence,” said Bintou Keita, presenting the Secretary-General’s latest report. She highlighted progress since the signing of the Washington Agreement between the DRC and Rwanda on 27...
The dramatic liquidity crisis currently impacting the UN and its global partners has already prevented a high-level human rights probe into the DRC emergency created in February from getting underway. According to testimonies gathered by OHCHR investigators into widespread violence in DRC’s North and South Kivu since January, members of the...
Since the initial earthquake on Sunday in eastern Nangarhar province, landslides and several strong aftershocks have disrupted the work of rescue teams. In an update, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that access routes remain blocked in various locations including the districts of Chawkay and Nurgal, both in Kunar province, although...
Gunfire tore through the dark. Night after night, the 44-year-old physician from Guinea clung to the hope that the besieged city would hold somehow. Then, one morning in late January, the call came: he and the remaining international staff had to be evacuated immediately. “We took the last flight out,”...
Despite diplomatic progress in recent months, with the United States brokering a peace agreement between the DRC and Rwanda, and Qatar facilitating a Declaration of Principles between the Congolese Government and M23 rebels, tensions remain high in the eastern DRC – where multiple armed groups operate. The Security Council...
So far this year, cholera has killed more than 4,300 people across 31 countries. These figures are underestimates and there is particular concern for those impacted by war in Sudan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Yemen. In Sudan, the disease has already claimed over 1,000...
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said it had received first-hand accounts indicating that at least 319 civilians were killed by M23 fighters, aided by members of the Rwanda Defence Force, between 9 and 21 July in North Kivu province. Most of the victims, including at least 48 women and...
Displaced Haitians are dispersed among the 250 active displacement sites across the country, most of which are informal. Just over a fifth of these sites are managed by humanitarian organizations, meaning that many are living in precarious conditions. In June alone, more than 200 alerts were reported across displacement sites,...
In a statement released on 19 July, MONUSCO said that the Declaration of Principles, signed in Doha under the mediation of Qatar, “reflects the parties’ resolve to prioritise peaceful means, establish a ceasefire, and set up a joint mechanism to define its practical implementation.” “This important declaration marks a shift...
“Our country can no longer tolerate children being born and growing up with HIV, when tools exist to prevent, detect and effectively treat this infection,” President Félix Tshisekedi declared at a recent government conference in the south-eastern Lualaba province, as he launched the five-year initiative. Backed by an initial commitment...
The accord is “a significant step towards de-escalation, peace and stability in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes region,” he said in a statement that evening. A breakthrough amid crisis Since the 1990s, eastern DRC has been plagued by dozens of armed groups who have...