DRC

Long-term vision and committed funding urgently needed from international community as flow of Syrian refugees continues.

A framework for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo will fail to end the suffering of millions of peopleunless concrete actions are taken.

Over 700,000 vulnerable according to UN as North Kivu, in DRC, is hit by increased militarization, poor harvest & little access to clean water.

As the humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo grows, with thousands of people fleeing new fighting in the past 48 hours, Oxfam is stepping up the supply of life-saving aid to more than 80,000 people in and around Goma.

More than 760,000 people have been displaced in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since the beginning of 2012, in the Kivu provinces alone.

Sally Chin of Oxfam said:

Last week, Malian singer and guitarist Afel Bocoum was joined in Mali by British musician Damon Albarn for a unique music project aimed at drawing international attention to the growing humanitarian crisis in Mali and to the regional food crisis in West and Central Africa.

Renewed military action against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) risks triggering further devastation for local people in DR of Congo, Central African Republic, and South Sudan unless more is done to protect civilians and prevent retaliations by one of Africa’s most brutal rebel groups.

Oistein Thorsen, humanitarian campaigner at Oxfam International said:

The widely lauded bipartisan May 2010 law that made way for President Obama’s recent decision to send troops to fight the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) must be fully enacted to include the promised full range of non-military strategies to demobilize the LRA, protect civilians and develop the region.