Highlights
• The last blue helmet from MONUSCO left South Kivu 30 April. With this withdrawal, authorities and population fear increased tensions among different communities in the haut plateau.
• The UNICEF L3 response plan is only 25% funded with Education (4%), Social Behavior Change/SBC (6%) and CASH+ (7%) the lowest funded sectors.
• In Dro Dro health zone, Ituri province, humanitarian access remained almost impossible, creating a worrying vacuum while humanitarian needs have been increasing with the arrival of new displaced persons in the two main IDP sites of Rhoe and Djangu. UNICEF and the Ituri access group undertook a mission to negotiate with communities and armed groups.
• According to the IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) as of 26 April, 1,524,179 individuals have been displaced due to the M23 crisis in North Kivu province and Minova (South Kivu province), of whom 18 per cent are children under five years old.
Situation in Numbers*
4.9 million People in need of humanitarian assistance
2.8 million Children in need of humanitarian assistance
4 million Newly internally displaced people since Oct 2022 (OCHA)
15,183 Suspected cholera cases. 239 deaths (Jan -April 2024, Min. of Health)
Funding Overview and Partnerships
UNICEF requires US$ 401 million for its L3 emergency response in eastern DRC. This amount is a subset of UNICEF DRC’s overall Humanitarian Action for Children 2023 and 2024 appeals. The humanitarian response is needed to meet the acute protection needs of women and children resulting from the upsurge in violence, the inter-communal conflict and the cholera outbreak in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri provinces. Since June 2023, UNICEF has received US$ 98.7 million against the emergency funding requirements. UNICEF sincerely thanks all public and private donors for the contributions received.