Intense fighting in South Kivu has sharply worsened the humanitarian situation in that province, causing numerous casualties and uprooting large numbers of civilians. A team made up of members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has transported 21 wounded people, including seven children, to the city of Uvira, some 40 kilometres away. They are being treated by medical teams at the Uvira General Referral Hospital, which is supported by the ICRC.
Despite the urgent needs, the deadly clashes in the past week in the South Kivu territories of Uvira, Walungu, Mwenga and Fizi have made it extremely difficult to assist the wounded and transport them to appropriate medical facilities. "We fear that many of those who have been wounded will not get the medical care they so desperately need," said Djibril Mamadou Diallo, head of the ICRC's office in Uvira.
Over the past few months, the ICRC has been working to build capacity at the Uvira hospital. It is training staff members to prepare for a large influx of wounded people and providing medical supplies and life-saving medicines. With the situation now deteriorating further, the ICRC is also dispatching an additional emergency surgical team to help handle the rising number of wounded people being admitted.
"Many men, women and children are finding themselves hemmed in by the fighting, which is taking place along multiple front lines. Some of them have hid in their homes for several days," said Mr Diallo. "And while tens of thousands of civilians were able to flee, it was an unwelcome exodus for people already living in fragile circumstances. From one day to the next, they had to abandon everything and take to the road."
The ICRC has also observed the growing use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects, such as shells and rockets, in highly populated areas. They have claimed many civilian victims and destroyed both their property and infrastructure critical to their survival. The use of such weapons in or near highly populated areas presents serious risks for civilians and increases the likelihood that such attacks will be indiscriminate in nature.
The ICRC reminds all parties to the conflict and everyone directly involved in the fighting of their obligations under international humanitarian law. In carrying out any military operations, they must avoid, or at the very least minimize, harm to civilians and civilian objects.
The ICRC urgently calls on all parties to make a particular effort to safeguard civilians and infrastructure that is critical to the survival of affected communities, and to help ensure wounded people can get the medical treatment they require.
