Christian charity World Vision has called upon the international community to guard children and other vulnerable people within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), following advances by the rebel M23 group.
M23 have claimed control of the eastern city of Goma, although government forces claim that they still control the airport. Many civilians fleeing violence in other parts of the country have previously taken shelter in the town of Goma.
According to World Vision, the DRC has more internally displaced people than some other country on the earth, at over 6.9 million. Half of those displaced persons are children, who struggle to seek out food, shelter and healthcare. As well as poverty, many are vulnerable to, or have already experienced violence, artillery bombardments and sexual violence.
Aline Napon, World Vision’s DRC National Director said, “World Vision in on the bottom and is supporting hundreds of people that have run towards Goma to flee conflict. On the faces of those women, children and men, we see despair, fear, rage and powerlessness.
“They have been forced to depart their homes without knowing where they’re going to stay or what they’re going to eat. In short, they’re fleeing simply to save lots of their lives. Many of those displaced persons are children. These children are experiencing atrocities that even grown-ups find hard to bear. These children, these women, these displaced people, need our help.”
M23 is allegedly backed by Rwanda, something that has neither been admitted nor denied by DRC’s eastern neighbour. Rwanda in turn has also accused the DRC of supporting anti-government militias in its own territory and of harbouring fugitives chargeable for the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The Rwandan genocide saw well over half one million people killed, most from the Tutsi ethnic group, within the space of just 4 months of brutal violence carried out by Hutu militias. M23 was formed to defend Tutsis in eastern Congo from human rights abuses, nonetheless the group has also been accused of assorted war crimes and abuses itself.
A spokesman for United Nations Secretary General António Guterres has called on Rwanda to finish its support for M23 and withdraw its own troops from DRC territory. The Kenyan government has called for a ceasefire within the conflict and has said that the leaders of DRC and Rwanda might be joining an emergency summit in the subsequent two days within the hopes of resolving the conflict peacefully.
Napon, World Vision’s representative made a final appeal to the internation community, to not forget concerning the DRC and its people at a time when the suffering in Ukraine and Gaza dominates the headlines.
“There could be very little about this ongoing humanitarian catastrophe online or within the media. The lives of the kids of DRC are only as precious because the lives of kids from every other country. We are begging the international community to listen to their cries and act quickly,” she said.Â
“World Vision urges all parties to the conflict to guard innocent civilians and supply protected and unhindered humanitarian access. Governments, humanitarian agencies and native communities must work together to satisfy the urgent needs of ladies, children and men. They have endured enough; they’ve lost enough. They deserve peace, they deserve safety, and so they deserve hope. Let’s do the whole lot in our power to deliver it for them.”
