UN News Today 21 November 2024 |

Acute hunger stalks one in four people in DR Congo, warn UN humanitarians

UN humanitarians warned on Thursday that one in four people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo suffers from “crisis or worse” levels of hunger – a staggering 25.6 million people.

The alert follows a new dire assessment from UN-partnered food insecurity experts that shows the hunger crisis is roiling much of the vast central African nation.

There’s particular concern that the situation in the embattled east is deteriorating after decades of fighting involving around 100 armed groups. They continue to vie for control of vast natural riches, threatening regional security.

With more on how communities have been impacted in DR Congo’s eastern provinces, here’s UN World Food Programme spokesperson Shelley Thakral (Thoughkrul):

“Conflict there hasn’t shown any let-up, and it’s been more than three decades now, and that’s people being displaced multiple times, leaving their homes, leaving their livelihoods and really putting them into a situation where they’re living in makeshift camps. Really flimsy shelter, poor water, sanitation. Very little access to health.”

In a joint appeal for assistance, the World Food Programme – WFP – and the Food and Agriculture Organization – FAO – urged the humanitarian community to increase resources for the “neglected crisis’’.

WFP reached nearly two million people in October alone. But as humanitarian needs continue to grow, the UN agency needs $350 million over the next six months to continue providing “essential food and nutrition assistance” to the most vulnerable.

So far this year FAO has assisted more than three million people out of its 3.6 million target, but it too “requires more financial resources to meet the current gap” in funding.

COP29 countdown: Failure on climate finance ‘not an option’, says Guterres

UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged world leaders on Thursday to commit to a deal on financing climate resilience measures in developing countries – failure is “not an option” – he told COP29 delegates in Baku.

Repeating his message to the G20 Summit in Rio, Mr. Guterres insisted that an ambitious climate finance goal was essential and urgent, as the result of inaction could be catastrophic.

Just hours before COP29 was due to wrap up in the Azerbaijan capital, negotiators reportedly remained at odds over a new climate finance goal to help developing countries combat flash flooding, drought, wildfires and other natural shocks made worse by human activity.

Challenging the notion of climate finance as a form of charity, the UN chief argued that it is a critical investment in the planet’s future. “It’s a downpayment on a safer, more prosperous future for every nation on Earth,” he asserted.

Middle East update: ICC arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Papers issued by the Court, which has an agreement of cooperation with the United Nations, specified that its pre-trial chamber believed that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant were responsible for starvation, murder, persecution and other inhumane acts since war broke out in Gaza last October.

The development follows the Court’s rejection of the assertion by Israel that it did not have jurisdiction in the case.

In a related development, the International Criminal Court also issued a warrant for the arrest of a senior Hamas military commander, Mohammed Deif, reportedly one of the planners of the 7 October terror attacks in Israel that sparked the war.

Mr. Deif is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on the territory of the State of Israel and the State of Palestine, the ICC said in a statement.

Israel says that the commander died in an airstrike in Gaza last July.

Daniel Johnson, UN News

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