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DRC: Humanitarian access is severely limited on several axes of Kivu, warns the UN
© WFP/Moses Sawasawa
A woman walks the streets with children in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
January 29, 2025 Peace and security
While a "precarious lull" is slightly observed after two days of intense fighting in the city of Goma, many aid agencies have expressed alarm at the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo where humanitarian access is "severely limited on several axes" of South Kivu and North Kivu.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA ), Goma airport has remained closed since 26 January, and most access routes to the city of Goma, including the RN2, have been cut off. The border at the Grande Barrière with the city of Gisenyi has been inaccessible since the morning of 28 January.
The United Nations continues to call for the establishment of humanitarian corridors, the reopening of Goma airport and border crossing points, to allow voluntary population movements seeking refuge in places free from conflict. “Due to the fighting, humanitarian activities are severely limited. Only health and water, hygiene and sanitation interventions continue,” notes OCHA.
© WFP/Moses Sawasawa
In Goma, in eastern DRC, residents are fleeing the advance of armed groups.
Negotiations for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor in South Kivu
In South Kivu, the access routes to Minova have been blocked since January 18, 2025. Insecurity on the various front lines thus impacts the Minova-Bunyakiri, Kalehe-Idjwi, and Minova-Kalehe-Bukavu axes.
"About twenty humanitarian partners, based in Minova, are ready to resume their operations as soon as the situation allows. Negotiations are underway for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor that would ensure the delivery of emergency assistance," notes OCHA in its latest situation report.
M23 rebels tighten grip on Goma. The capture of the largest city in eastern DRC is a new chapter in a serious escalation that has lasted for years and left hundreds dead and millions displaced.
In Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, protesters denouncing the inaction of the international community attacked several embassies, including those of Belgium, France, Kenya, South Africa, the United States and Uganda.
On the ground, more than half of the populations of the displaced persons sites of Kanyaruchinya, Bushagara, Rusayo 1 and Rusayo 2 have left these areas. Some displaced persons have headed to Goma or other neighbouring localities, others have found refuge with host communities, in schools and other collective infrastructures.
Medical evacuation becomes a challenge
In South Kivu, humanitarian actors estimated that nearly 20,000 households, or more than 117,000 people, were newly welcomed in the Kalehe health zone in Kalehe territory between January 20 and 27.
Regarding the fate of the wounded, health structures are saturated and are organizing to care for the seriously injured, despite the power and water cuts in Goma. "Medical evacuation is becoming a challenge, in a context of persistent violence, with ambulances being targeted."
As of 28 January, the International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC ) recorded more than 256 wounded at Ndosho hospital. The ICRC reports that it has treated more than 600 wounded since the beginning of January, nearly half of whom are civilians. Many of them are women and children.
At the same time, the NGO Médecins Sans Frontières announced that it had received around sixty wounded people at the Kyeshero hospital in the city of Goma.
WHO has provided more than 25 tonnes of medicines and equipment
In South Kivu, "the number of wounded exceeds the capacity of hospitals and health centers in Kalehe and Minova. The most serious cases have been referred to the Bukavu General Reference Hospital. Nearly 400 people with gunshot wounds have been treated by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) over the last three weeks in Minova, Numbi and Masisi.
According to humanitarian agencies, this situation is the result of the use of artillery in densely populated areas – particularly in large urban centres such as the city of Goma or displaced persons camps – as well as the intensity of devastating fighting for the trapped populations.
"With the influx of wounded from the fighting in recent days, of course the hospitals that were already at maximum capacity are now overwhelmed, it's a truth," said in an interview with UN Info, Boureima Hama Sambo, Representative of the World Health Organization ( WHO ) in the DRC, noting that his agency provided last weekend, more than 25 tons of medicines and equipment as well as more than 25 tents to support the health districts.
WHO reassures on the specter of Ebola spread from a laboratory in Goma
While the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday that it was "very concerned" about the risk of the Ebola virus leaking from the Goma laboratory, the UN World Health Agency is providing reassurance about the situation at the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Goma.
If this lab keeps samples, the WHO emphasizes that these highly pathogenic germs with epidemic potential are very well preserved. For the WHO, there is no concern since the Goma laboratory is kept in conditions that meet the criteria of vigilance and international rigor.
"We were in Goma only last week. We visited the laboratory whose samples are preserved according to international standards. On this, there is no concern since the Goma laboratory is really kept in conditions that meet the criteria of vigilance and international rigor," added Dr. Sambo.
© WHO/Guerchom Ndebo
Patients are treated for MPOX in eastern DRC in August 2024.
Tracing of MPOX cases
More broadly, the WHO is concerned about the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Kivus, which was already "an acute health emergency". For Dr. Sambo, the increase in clashes has worsened a situation that was already very precarious in a region where diseases such as Mpox, cholera and measles are rife.
Especially since with the current situation, the WHO fears that Mpox patients who were in isolation in the displacement sites could now mix with the general population. "So this will facilitate, accentuate the spread of the disease," observed Dr. Sambo, specifying that more than 20,000 suspected cases of monkeypox have been reported in North and South Kivu since 2024, including more than 6,000 in the last six weeks.
North and South Kivu also recorded more than 21,600 cases and 59 deaths from cholera, and more than 11,700 cases and 115 deaths from measles last year.
UNICEF needs $22 million
Faced with the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in eastern DRC, the United Nations Children's Fund ( UNICEF ) has launched an appeal for $22 million to provide emergency assistance to 282,000 children.
The money will help with protection, health, nutrition, water and sanitation, and education.
“Civilians, exhausted by the traumatic events, are suffering from hunger, thirst and are exhausted. Families deprived of access to water, electricity and the Internet, are taking refuge wherever they can to escape the violence,” said Jean Francois Basse, UNICEF Acting Representative in the DRC.
The main risks for children are currently related to health and protection. The precarious living conditions in the camps, characterized by promiscuity and unsanitary conditions, expose children to a high risk of diseases such as cholera, measles and COPD. Fear of clashes and the saturation of health structures means that many parents are reluctant to take their children to hospital.
UNICEF has received reports of an alarming increase in the number of children separated from their families or unaccompanied, putting them at increased risk of abduction, forced recruitment and sexual violence.
DRC: Humanitarian access is severely limited on several axes of Kivu, warns the UN
© WFP/Moses Sawasawa
A woman walks the streets with children in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
January 29, 2025 Peace and security
While a "precarious lull" is slightly observed after two days of intense fighting in the city of Goma, many aid agencies have expressed alarm at the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo where humanitarian access is "severely limited on several axes" of South Kivu and North Kivu.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA ), Goma airport has remained closed since 26 January, and most access routes to the city of Goma, including the RN2, have been cut off. The border at the Grande Barrière with the city of Gisenyi has been inaccessible since the morning of 28 January.
The United Nations continues to call for the establishment of humanitarian corridors, the reopening of Goma airport and border crossing points, to allow voluntary population movements seeking refuge in places free from conflict. “Due to the fighting, humanitarian activities are severely limited. Only health and water, hygiene and sanitation interventions continue,” notes OCHA.
© WFP/Moses Sawasawa
In Goma, in eastern DRC, residents are fleeing the advance of armed groups.
Negotiations for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor in South Kivu
In South Kivu, the access routes to Minova have been blocked since January 18, 2025. Insecurity on the various front lines thus impacts the Minova-Bunyakiri, Kalehe-Idjwi, and Minova-Kalehe-Bukavu axes.
"About twenty humanitarian partners, based in Minova, are ready to resume their operations as soon as the situation allows. Negotiations are underway for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor that would ensure the delivery of emergency assistance," notes OCHA in its latest situation report.
M23 rebels tighten grip on Goma. The capture of the largest city in eastern DRC is a new chapter in a serious escalation that has lasted for years and left hundreds dead and millions displaced.
In Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, protesters denouncing the inaction of the international community attacked several embassies, including those of Belgium, France, Kenya, South Africa, the United States and Uganda.
On the ground, more than half of the populations of the displaced persons sites of Kanyaruchinya, Bushagara, Rusayo 1 and Rusayo 2 have left these areas. Some displaced persons have headed to Goma or other neighbouring localities, others have found refuge with host communities, in schools and other collective infrastructures.
Medical evacuation becomes a challenge
In South Kivu, humanitarian actors estimated that nearly 20,000 households, or more than 117,000 people, were newly welcomed in the Kalehe health zone in Kalehe territory between January 20 and 27.
Regarding the fate of the wounded, health structures are saturated and are organizing to care for the seriously injured, despite the power and water cuts in Goma. "Medical evacuation is becoming a challenge, in a context of persistent violence, with ambulances being targeted."
As of 28 January, the International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC ) recorded more than 256 wounded at Ndosho hospital. The ICRC reports that it has treated more than 600 wounded since the beginning of January, nearly half of whom are civilians. Many of them are women and children.
At the same time, the NGO Médecins Sans Frontières announced that it had received around sixty wounded people at the Kyeshero hospital in the city of Goma.
WHO has provided more than 25 tonnes of medicines and equipment
In South Kivu, "the number of wounded exceeds the capacity of hospitals and health centers in Kalehe and Minova. The most serious cases have been referred to the Bukavu General Reference Hospital. Nearly 400 people with gunshot wounds have been treated by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) over the last three weeks in Minova, Numbi and Masisi.
According to humanitarian agencies, this situation is the result of the use of artillery in densely populated areas – particularly in large urban centres such as the city of Goma or displaced persons camps – as well as the intensity of devastating fighting for the trapped populations.
"With the influx of wounded from the fighting in recent days, of course the hospitals that were already at maximum capacity are now overwhelmed, it's a truth," said in an interview with UN Info, Boureima Hama Sambo, Representative of the World Health Organization ( WHO ) in the DRC, noting that his agency provided last weekend, more than 25 tons of medicines and equipment as well as more than 25 tents to support the health districts.
WHO reassures on the specter of Ebola spread from a laboratory in Goma
While the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday that it was "very concerned" about the risk of the Ebola virus leaking from the Goma laboratory, the UN World Health Agency is providing reassurance about the situation at the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Goma.
If this lab keeps samples, the WHO emphasizes that these highly pathogenic germs with epidemic potential are very well preserved. For the WHO, there is no concern since the Goma laboratory is kept in conditions that meet the criteria of vigilance and international rigor.
"We were in Goma only last week. We visited the laboratory whose samples are preserved according to international standards. On this, there is no concern since the Goma laboratory is really kept in conditions that meet the criteria of vigilance and international rigor," added Dr. Sambo.
© WHO/Guerchom Ndebo
Patients are treated for MPOX in eastern DRC in August 2024.
Tracing of MPOX cases
More broadly, the WHO is concerned about the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Kivus, which was already "an acute health emergency". For Dr. Sambo, the increase in clashes has worsened a situation that was already very precarious in a region where diseases such as Mpox, cholera and measles are rife.
Especially since with the current situation, the WHO fears that Mpox patients who were in isolation in the displacement sites could now mix with the general population. "So this will facilitate, accentuate the spread of the disease," observed Dr. Sambo, specifying that more than 20,000 suspected cases of monkeypox have been reported in North and South Kivu since 2024, including more than 6,000 in the last six weeks.
North and South Kivu also recorded more than 21,600 cases and 59 deaths from cholera, and more than 11,700 cases and 115 deaths from measles last year.
UNICEF needs $22 million
Faced with the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in eastern DRC, the United Nations Children's Fund ( UNICEF ) has launched an appeal for $22 million to provide emergency assistance to 282,000 children.
The money will help with protection, health, nutrition, water and sanitation, and education.
“Civilians, exhausted by the traumatic events, are suffering from hunger, thirst and are exhausted. Families deprived of access to water, electricity and the Internet, are taking refuge wherever they can to escape the violence,” said Jean Francois Basse, UNICEF Acting Representative in the DRC.
The main risks for children are currently related to health and protection. The precarious living conditions in the camps, characterized by promiscuity and unsanitary conditions, expose children to a high risk of diseases such as cholera, measles and COPD. Fear of clashes and the saturation of health structures means that many parents are reluctant to take their children to hospital.
UNICEF has received reports of an alarming increase in the number of children separated from their families or unaccompanied, putting them at increased risk of abduction, forced recruitment and sexual violence.
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