Thousands are without lifesaving aid in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo due to critical funding gaps, the United Nations Refugee agency says.
"Critical funding gaps are severely hampering humanitarian efforts in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and beyond, leaving thousands without lifesaving aid and pushing an already dire humanitarian situation closer to catastrophe", Eujin Byun from UNHCR told reporters in Geneva on Friday.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been internally displaced, while more than 100,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries in less than three months due to fighting between the M23 group and Congolese army, according to the UNHCR.
Shelters that previously housed some 400,000 people forced to flee the fighting in and around the city of Goma in North Kivu province have been destroyed, leaving families stranded without shelter or protection, UNHCR added.
"Due to funding cuts, humanitarian partners are struggling to rebuild shelters, leaving displaced people with few options for survival", the agency said.
No ceasefire
The leader of a rebel alliance that has seized swathes of east Congo told Reuters on Thursday that insurgents were not bound by a ceasefire call from Congo and Rwanda's presidents and cast any minerals-for-security deal with the US as "treachery".
Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame met in Doha on Tuesday for the first time since the latest M23 advance that has seen the rebels seize more territory than ever before.
Tshisekedi and Kagame meet in Qatar for crisis talks on eastern DRC
The meeting came one day after M23 pulled out of direct talks with Tshisekedi's government that were expected to take place in Angola, and as its fighters pushed deeper into Congolese territory.
Rwanda says cutting diplomatic ties with Belgium, as EU announces sanctions
The conflict in Congo's east is rooted in the fallout from Rwanda's 1994 genocide and competition for mineral riches. It has spiralled since January, raising fears of a regional conflict akin to those between 1996-2003 that left millions dead.
"We have nothing more to lose. We will fight until our cause is heard," Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance (AFC) that includes M23, told Reuters on Thursday when asked about the group's plans.
"We are defending ourselves. So if the threat continues to come from (DR Congo capital) Kinshasa, unfortunately, we will be forced to go and eliminate the threat because the Congo deserves better," he said during an interview in Goma, eastern Congo's main city.
"In the meantime, what happened in Doha, as long as we don't know the details, and as long as it doesn't solve our problems, we'll say it doesn't concern us."
Rwanda has denied supporting M23 and said its military has been acting in self defence against Congo's army and militias hostile to Kigali.
(Reuters)
