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UN PhotoWFP / DRC VIOLENCE
STORY: WFP / DRC VIOLENCE
TRT: 02:16
SOURCE: WFP
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WFP ON SCREEN
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: VARIOUS, SEE THE SHOTLIST
12 MARCH 2024, GOMA, DRC
1. Various shots, aerial views, Goma
26 JANUARY 2025, GOMA, DRC
2. Various shots, displaced people fleeing fighting
Displaced people flee Kanyaruchinya IDP camp, running away from fighting. IDP camps on the city’s outskirts, previously hosting more than 300,000 people, are emptying out as people flee.
12 MARCH 2024, GOMA, DRC
3. Various shots, aerial views, Bulengo Camp
There are almost 7million internally displaced people in DRC. A significant concentration is in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, where 5.1 million people have been forced to abandon their homes. Bulengo camp was one of the biggest camps near Goma.
12-13 MARCH 2024, GOMA, DRC
4. Wide shot, Bulengo Camp
Families who fled the fighting face extreme needs as they have inadequate shelters, and limited access to water and food and protection from abuse.
12 MARCH 2024, GOMA, DRC
5. Various shots, testing for malnutrition
Asifiwe Vumulia Shukuru and her daughter are tested for malnourishment. Her daughter is severely malnourished and needs to go to a clinic in the camp to be treated. She too, is also malnourished. One out of every four people across the country are facing acute hunger including children and pregnant and nursing women. Armed violence, continued conflict and soaring food prices are the key drivers of DRC’s acute food insecurity
31 JANUARY 2025, KINSHASA, DRC
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Shelley Thakral, WFP Spokesperson:
“People are really running out of food, clean water, medical supplies and that's a big concern. So, the supply chain has really been strangled at the moment. If you think about land access, air access, when everything is closed down. So, our first priority is obviously for staff safety. We want to get back to our operations as soon as security allows us to.”
12-14 MARCH 2024, GOMA, DRC
7. Various shots, WFP food distribution
The core of WFP's operations in the DRC consists of providing vital food and cash assistance. To prevent severe food security crises, WFP has prioritised supporting newly displaced people over those who have been receiving support for extended periods of time. WFP has been forced to prioritize assistance to the most vulnerable people due to projected funding shortfalls in 2025 and urgently needs US $410 million to maintain country-wide operations in the country for the next six months until June 2025.
Concerns are mounting as violence escalates rapidly in and around Goma, the provincial capital of eastern DRC. In a city of one million plus people, food and water supplies are running low – the next 24 hours are crucial.
Several WFP warehouses have been looted; teams are taking stock of what they will need to locally procure and transfer by road to make sure they have provisions once they resume operations in the critically affected areas.
Access to food in Goma has been impacted. Food shortages and a hike in prices is anticipated. IDP camps on the city’s outskirts, previously hosting more than 300,000 people, are emptying out as people flee. Medical services are overwhelmed by the number of injured individuals, both civilians and military personnel. It has been reported the wounded have not been treated.
WFP’s priority is keeping its staff and their dependents safe. Only critical WFP staff remain in the area who are getting ready to resume operations as soon security permits. The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms ongoing advances by the M23 in North-Kivu, including the control of Masisi centre on 4 January 2025 and of Sake on 23 January 2025, and expressed serious concerns regarding imminent threats against Goma.
WFP is deeply concerned that water and food supplies are running low for families trapped by the violence in eastern DRC. Families are fleeing active conflict zones. The situation is unravelling at an alarming speed. People are growing increasingly desperate. The next 24 hrs are critical. Supply chain disruptions have caused a shortage of food and other essential goods, which are expected to be depleted in the coming days.
On 28 January, looting and attacks were also reported in Kinshasa and Bukavu during demonstrations over Goma. Several embassies and commercial establishments were targeted in the violence and looted. WFP is committed to stay in the region with critical staff but has temporarily paused its operations in North Kivu given the insecurity. WFP has seen some of its warehouses looted in the violence. WFP aims to resume its operations in eastern DRC as soon as it is safe to do so.
WFP calls on all parties to the conflict to immediately cease hostilities and uphold obligations under International Humanitarian Law, including the protection and safety of humanitarian workers.
Even before the recent escalation of violence some 5 million people in Ituri, North and South Kivu, have been displaced and forced to live in overcrowded camps with little food and no security.
One out of every four people across the country are facing acute hunger including children and pregnant and nursing women. Armed violence, continued conflict and soaring food prices are the key drivers of DRC’s acute food insecurity. WFP is focused on supporting the 7 million most vulnerable women, men, and children in DRC who depend on WFP for lifesaving and life-changing support in 2025. WFP aims to resume delivering critical assistance as soon as circumstances allow.
WFP operations in the rest of DRC continue uninterrupted. The WFP-managed UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) has deployed emergency aircraft to Goma to support the transport of humanitarians, as necessary.
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