Displacement & MigrationNews

DR Congo: 660,000 Persons Displaced In Ituri Since January 2020

More than 660,000 persons have been internally displaced in Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo due to armed conflict since January this year. 

Thousands of others have been forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries.

According to the United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator David McLachland-Karr, the world body is “very preoccupied by the deteriorating climate making its bed in Ituri since the beginning of this year which is about to transform Ituri into a humanitarian time bomb.

“Since the beginning of the year, thousands of families are victims of uninterrupted violence, in the process paying a high price in terms of deaths, displacement of persons, loss of property and violations of human rights in Ituri province, particularly in the regions of Djugu, Mahagi and in south Irumu. 


“Week after week, these men, women and children are victims of violence, either between armed gangs or between the Congolese army and these armed bands”, declares the UN official.

Within last week alone, there has been a provisional figure of more than twenty persons killed notably within the health zones of Damas, Kilo and Rwampara during armed attacks.

Mr. McLachlan-Karr reminded the Congolese authorities that even humanitarian actors invest in bringing assistance to those in need within the means at their disposal. 

It is the responsibility of the Congolese government, first and foremost, to invest in the protection of civilians and in the search for peaceful solutions in response to the profound root problems that have been destabilizing the province in particular and the Democratic Republic of Congo in general.

It should be recalled that Ituri and North Kivu provinces have been the main flashpoints in the armed clashes that have been tearing the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo apart since its independence on June 30, 1960.


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Chief Bisong Etahoben

Chief Bisong Etahoben is a Cameroonian investigative journalist and traditional ruler. He writes for international media and has participated in several transnational investigations. Etahoben won the first-ever Cameroon Investigative Journalist Award in 1992. He serves as a member of a number of international investigative journalism professional bodies including the Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR). He is HumAngle's Francophone and Central Africa editor.

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