UN / DRC HUMANITARIAN US FUNDING

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Bruno Lemarquis said the United States’ administration decision to suspend foreign aid, “is a major source of concern with several UN agencies or international NGOs active on the ground, having seen their operation at best severely impacted, if not halted.” UNIFEED

• Video Length: 00:03:35
• Production Date: 11 February 2025
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS - OCHA
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN CRISIS; WAR VICTIMS; HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE; FINANCING
• Geographic Subject: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
• MAMS Id: 3337999
• Parent Id: 3337999
• Alternate Title: unifeed250211a

Description

STORY: UN / DRC HUMANITARIAN US FUNDING
TRT: 03:35
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 11 FEBRUARY 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters

11 FEBRUARY 2025, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, press room dais
3. Med shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Bruno Lemarquis, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):
“Many among the population of Goma facing a difficult humanitarian situation. Essential services in the city are not yet fully operational, particularly water and electricity, which has led many people to drink water directly from Lake Kivu, risking contracting waterborne disease.”
5. Wide shot, press room dais
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Bruno Lemarquis, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):
“Hospitals in Goma are still overwhelmed; mortuaries are saturated, and medical teams have to cope with an unprecedented number of war wounded with a shortage of medicine and medical supply. Risk of epidemics are high in the city, in particular cholera and Mpox. And also, food prices have risen, and more and more people need food assistance every day.”
7. Wide shot, press room dais
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Bruno Lemarquis, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):
“Getting aid to Goma is one of our biggest, challenges we are facing. The Goma airport, our main humanitarian lifeline, remains closed and non-operational for a number of reasons. And without this airport, we cannot evacuate the seriously injured, transport the necessary medical supplies, or bring in humanitarian reinforcements. So, all parties must act now to work together to reopen the airport and allow humanitarian flights to resume.”
9. Wide shot, press room dais
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Bruno Lemarquis, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):
“The US administration decision to suspend temporarily foreign aid, this is a major source of concern with several UN agencies or international NGOs active on the ground, having seen their operation at best severely impacted, if not halted. And for information, the DRC was the largest recipient of US humanitarian assistance in the world in 2024, last year.”
11. Wide shot, press room dais
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Bruno Lemarquis, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):
“We have received in 2024 1.3 billion dollars, the highest amount ever received in the DRC for humanitarian response. 910 million out of this 1.3 billion dollars came from the US alone, which means 70 percent. It's the highest percentage in the world in terms of US contribution to a humanitarian response plan.”
13. Wide shot, press room dais
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Bruno Lemarquis, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):
“Our ultra dependence on US funding means a lot of programs had to shut down on everything we are doing. So, it's emergency health, it is emergency shelter, it's - including in my own office - It's coordination capacity, coordination capacity that that left one from one day to the next because they were tied to US funding.”
15. Wide shot, press room dais
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Bruno Lemarquis, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):
“Some small donors that do their best. DRC it's their first program, but because of the sheer size of the needs, it's a drop in the bucket. We talk to everybody. We talk to what we call non-traditional donors. But it will be hard to compensate a 70 percent dependence on one donor.”
17. Wide shot, end of briefing

Storyline

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Bruno Lemarquis today (11 Feb) said the United States’ administration decision to suspend foreign aid, “is a major source of concern with several UN agencies or international NGOs active on the ground, having seen their operation at best severely impacted, if not halted.”

Briefing via video teleconference from Kinshasa, Lemarquis explained that many among the population of Goma are facing “a difficult humanitarian situation,” as essential services in the city are “not yet fully operational, particularly water and electricity.

He said “hospitals in Goma are still overwhelmed; mortuaries are saturated, and medical teams have to cope with an unprecedented number of war wounded with a shortage of medicine and medical supply. Risk of epidemics are high in the city, in particular cholera and Mpox. And also, food prices have risen, and more and more people need food assistance every day.

Getting aid to Goma, Lemarquis said, “is one of our biggest, challenges we are facing,” as the Goma airport, the “main humanitarian lifeline, remains closed and non-operational for a number of reasons.”

He told reporters that the DRC “was the largest recipient of US humanitarian assistance in the world in 2024,” 910 million dollars out of 1.3 billion dollars of aid received “from the US alone, which means 70 percent.”

The humanitarian official said, “our ultra dependence on US funding means a lot of programs had to shut down on everything we are doing. So, it's emergency health, it is emergency shelter, it's - including in my own office - It's coordination capacity, coordination capacity that that left one from one day to the next because they were tied to US funding.”

He noted that small donors “do their best” to fill in the gap, “but because of the sheer size of the needs, it's a drop in the bucket,” adding that “it will be hard to compensate a 70 percent dependence on one donor.”