UN / DRC UPDATE
STORY: UN / DRC UPDATE
TRT: 05:00
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 03 FEBRUARY 2025, NEW YORK CITY / RECENT, GOMA, NORTH KIVU, DECOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
03 FEBRUARY 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric at the podium
3. Wide shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Humanitarian colleagues say they are concerned about escalating health risks, with the rainy season intensifying. There are still bodies of people who died in the violence lying in the streets of Goma. Our colleagues tell us that morgues are at capacity, and hospitals and health centres are overwhelmed with injured people. While efforts to chlorinate water are under way, with the support of our humanitarian partners, the lack of drinking water is forcing people in Goma to rely on untreated water from Lake Kivu.”
5. Med shot, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Economic and other activities are gradually resuming, but schools and banks remain closed. Two humanitarian organizations and government entities had their vehicles hijacked over the weekend. Aid organizations continue to assess the impact of the looting of their warehouses as these groups try to resume the delivery of aid in and around Goma. Between Friday and Saturday, OCHA and its humanitarian partners jointly assessed displacement sites in and around Goma. Initial findings reveal that many camps have been looted, they’ve been destroyed and abandoned. While some people may have returned to their communities or sought refuge elsewhere, many people still lack adequate shelter and access to basic services.”
7. Med shot, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The World Food Programme is telling us they are actively prepositioning supplies, and ready to resume their operations as soon as conditions allow. The agency is also strengthening preparedness efforts in neighbouring countries, working with UNHCR, IOM, and others to develop contingency plans. Given the risk of increased displacement as we’ve seen it, WFP is ensuring readiness in Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and Tanzania. And as a reminder, one out of every four people across the DRC faces acute hunger including children and pregnant and nursing women. Armed violence continued conflict and soaring food prices are obviously key drivers in the DRC’s acute food insecurity.”
9. Med shot, journalists
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Our peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but mostly in the eastern part of the country, are telling us about their ongoing concerns regarding the reported advance of the M23 towards South Kivu’s capital Bukavu. As a reminder, since June of last year, MONUSCO is no longer present in South Kivu as part of the agreed upon disengagement plan with the host country. Our colleagues say the M23 is reportedly consolidating its presence in the capital Goma through regular patrols and house searches. Looting and occupation of private homes by the armed group has been reported as well as attempts to seize vehicles, including those owned by humanitarian organizations, which is of course a violation of the international humanitarian law. Meanwhile in South Kivu, fighting continues on the outskirts of Minova, and Congolese forces have reinforced their positions in Nyabibwe, which is 85 kilometres up from Bukavu on the western shore of Lake Kivu.”
11. Wide shot, end of briefing
02 FEBRUARY 2025, GOMA, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
12. Various shots, city views
13. Various shots, displaced persons
United Nations Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric today (3 Feb) expressed concerned about “escalating health risks” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as “there are still bodies of people who died in the violence lying in the streets of Goma,” with morgues “at capacity, and hospitals and health centres are overwhelmed with injured people.”
Dujarric told journalists in New York that “while efforts to chlorinate water are under way, with the support of our humanitarian partners, the lack of drinking water is forcing people in Goma to rely on untreated water from Lake Kivu.”
The spokesperson reported that “economic and other activities are gradually resuming, but schools and banks remain closed,” and noted that “two humanitarian organizations and government entities had their vehicles hijacked over the weekend.”
Aid organizations, he said, “continue to assess the impact of the looting of their warehouses as these groups try to resume the delivery of aid in and around Goma.”
According to the UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, Dujarric said that “while some people may have returned to their communities or sought refuge elsewhere, many people still lack adequate shelter and access to basic services.”
He said the World Food Programme (WFP) is “actively prepositioning supplies, and ready to resume their operations as soon as conditions allow,” and the agency “is also strengthening preparedness efforts in neighbouring countries, working with UNHCR, IOM, and others to develop contingency plans. Given the risk of increased displacement as we’ve seen it, WFP is ensuring readiness in Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and Tanzania.”
Dujarric said the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, MONUSCO, remains concerned about the reported advance of the M23 towards South Kivu’s capital Bukavu.
The M23, he said, is “reportedly consolidating its presence in the capital Goma through regular patrols and house searches. Looting and occupation of private homes by the armed group has been reported as well as attempts to seize vehicles, including those owned by humanitarian organizations, which is of course a violation of the international humanitarian law.”
Meanwhile, the spokesperson said, “in South Kivu, fighting continues on the outskirts of Minova, and Congolese forces have reinforced their positions in Nyabibwe, which is 85 kilometres up from Bukavu on the western shore of Lake Kivu.”
MONUSCO is no longer present in South Kivu as part of the agreed upon disengagement plan with the host country.