UN News Today 29 January 2025 |

DR Congo emergency: A public health ‘nightmare’ is unfolding, warn UN medics

As UN agencies reported “relative calm” on Wednesday in the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), humanitarians warned that the chaos caused by advancing M23 rebel forces backed by Rwanda could fuel a region-wide health emergency.

The internet remains shut down in the provincial capital and only mobile phone networks are functioning, with M23 fighters apparently in control of “a significant portion of the city” after intense clashes with the Congolese army, UN agencies reported.

UN World Health Organization Representative in DRC, Dr Boureima Hama Sambo, said that aid teams are unable to move around freely to support hospitals and that ambulances cannot run. “Vulnerable people need us,” he told UN News.

There’s also deep concern that mpox may be spreading unchecked among displaced populations, after the virus was declared a public health emergency of international concern, last August, Dr Hama said:

“We have a treatment centre within the camp and those who were there receiving treatment have fled the camp. So, there’s a fear for the disease to be spreading widely in the community, but at this point we cannot say because we have not been able to get there and assess what’s happening right now.”

In the provincial capital Goma, humanitarians report that conditions remain dire, with no running water or electricity.

In Gaza, UNRWA distributes 60 per cent of all aid since ceasefire began

To Gaza, where the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA, has continued leading aid efforts while the ceasefire holds.

Well over half a million people have received aid from UNRWA and there are enough supplies coming to feed the entire population, it said on Wednesday.

A day before the Knesset’s decision to halt UNRWA’s work in Gaza and Jerusalem takes effect, the UN agency underlined its status as the largest aid operator in the wartorn enclave.

It noted that it has distributed 60 per cent of all tents in the last six months and is ready to distribute a further 22,000. Over the past week alone, UNRWA teams have provided water across the Gaza Strip to 475,000 people and collected 3,000 tons of solid waste.

Every day, more than 1,000 UNRWA health staff have worked in medical centres and temporary clinics across the Gaza Strip, providing around 16,000 consultations.

In support of UNRWA’s work, the Secretary-General earlier this week renewed his call to the Government of Israel to retract its ban on the UN agency, which he described as “irreplaceable”.

Belarus election outcome likely to lead to further repression, warn rights experts

Top independent rights experts expressed profound concerns on Wednesday at the re-election of long-time President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus.

Mr. Lukashenko reportedly gained nearly 87 per cent of votes in the national poll; the result will likely impact on the already dire human rights situation in Belarus, according to a group of independent experts, appointed by the Human Rights Council.

The panel of experts – who are not UN staff – maintained that international independent observers had not been invited to Belarus to verify the election, something that also happened in 2020 – when mass protests erupted after the disputed presidential poll that returned Mr. Lukashenko to power.

Since then, “real and perceived members of the opposition have been subjected to arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, and denied fair trial rights”, the experts said, adding that some of these violations may amount to crimes against humanity.

The group presents its first report to the Human Rights Council during its next session beginning 24 February.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.

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