DRC / KASAI DISPLACED

The World Food Programme (WFP) said the crisis in the Kasai provinces is the most alarming in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC,) expressing extreme concern at the lack of resources in the remote region. WFP

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:13
• Production Date: 29 August 2017
• Asset Language: Original; English
• Corporate Name: WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME - WFP
• Subject Topical: CONFLICT SITUATION; DISPLACED PERSONS; FOOD SECURITY
• Geographic Subject: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
• MAMS Id: 1957608
• Parent Id: 1957608
• Alternate Title: unifeed170829c

Description

STORY: DRC / KASAI DISPLACED
TRT: 03:14
SOURCE: WFP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ITALIAN / TSHILUBA / NATS

DATELINE: 21-25 AUGUST 2017, KASAI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Shotlist

21-25 AUGUST 2017, KASAI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

1. Various shots, displaced people walking on dirt road
2. Med shot,
3. Tilt up, displaced families gathered on side of road
4. SOUNDBITE (Tshiluba) Jean-Pierre Kashila, displaced artisanal diamond miner:
“We escaped the killing. Ask God to protect us and keep us safe. When we were attacked, we fled and hid in the bush.”
5. Pan right, writing on wall to destroyed mechanic shop
6. Wide shot, neighbours standing in ruins of mechanic shop
7. Wide shot, pastor walking through ruins
8. Tilt up, bullet holes in wall
9. Med shot, pastor and imam
10. Tilt up, imam
11. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Clement, Pastor of Nganza:
“People are hungry because they haven’t worked, they haven’t been able to cultivate their fields. Even next season I think we will feel the effects because this is the time to plant and we aren’t able to.”
12. Various shots, children being checked for malnutrition at Soeurs De Saint Joseph De Arbes Health Center
13. Various shots, doctor tending to 15-year-old’s wounded leg
14. Close up, 15-year-old Mbuyi
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Dumont, Spokesperson, World Food Programme:
“Thousands of people have been killed here in Kasai. More than a million displaced. The international community needs to step up to the plate and help these people. There is a lot of things going in the world; a lot of resources that are being asked of the international community, but these people’s lives value just as much as anyone else’s in any other crisis. Hunger is on the rise here. If we don’t act now, then it’s going to get a lot worse and we are going to see ourselves in the same situation as in the other places that desperately our help.”
16. Wide shot, people lined up for food distribution in Tshikapa
17. Med shot, women lined up for food distribution
18. Various shots, women carrying away food aid
19. Various shots, woman and children eating

Storyline

The World Food Programme (WFP) said the crisis in the Kasai provinces is the most alarming in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC,) expressing extreme concern at the lack of resources in the remote region.

WFP said thousands of people are reported to have been killed and buried in mass graves and more than a million have fled their villages since August 2016, with tens of thousands crossing into neighbouring Angola. The Programme added that those displaced by the violence are in urgent need of assistance as the most of them are living with host families in Kasai or in forests, with little access to food or services of any kind.

WFP launched an emergency operation to provide food assistance to 42,000 food insecure people in the Kasai. The plan includes providing assistance to 25,000 displaced persons in Kasai Central and 17,000 people in the Kasai province in the coming days. WFP said it urgently requires US$17.3 million to support scale up of its operations to assist 250,000 vulnerable persons in the Kasai region from September to December 2017.

According to the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA), there are some 1.4 million internally displaced people across the Kasai provinces. In addition, more than 31,000 people have fled the region into neighbouring Angola. With up to 3.8 million people displaced in total, the DRC is home to the largest population of internally displaced people in Africa. WFP said the sharp deterioration in people’s food security is mainly attributable to displacement caused by an upsurge in conflict and pest infestation in crops across the country.

Fighting broke out in Kasai in August 2016 over political tension between Kinshasa's central power and a local chief. What should have been an administrative formality resulted in the formation of a new anti-government militia movement, the Kamuina Nsapu. The violence has since spread to all three provinces in Kasai.