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A record 6.9 million people have been displaced in Africa's longest-running conflict and one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. What’s going on in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)? Read on to find out.
At least 80% of the displaced population are from the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, and Tanganyika, areas that have been increasingly dominated by armed groups looking to control resources in those regions, particularly gold.
An estimated $300 million to $600 million in gold is smuggled out of the DRC each year. While some Belgian companies are involved in the DRC’s gold industry, much of the smuggled gold ends up in the UAE, which imported $37 billion in gold in 2020, making it one of the biggest players in the market.
Banyamulenge woman Esther Nanduhura told local reporters the armed groups “sell gold to white people to buy weapons — that’s why they sell the gold. I want to tell these white people to stop buying from them.”
One such armed group are the mainly ethnic Tutsi M23 rebels whose conflict with the DRC has intensified in North Kivu since early October, particularly in the area north of the provincial capital Goma.
In North Kivu alone 1 million people have been displaced due to the ongoing conflict with the M23 as violent fighting escalates. Since October 1 almost 200,000 people have fled their homes in North Kivu’s Rutshuru and Masisi territory north of Goma.
The IOM is involved in managing 78 displacement sites which are hosting 200,000 people and are also providing mental health services for people who are facing psychological distress. However, only $37 million of the $100 million funding needed has arrived to date.
The large-scale displacement has also led to an increase in sexual violence against women, particularly in the East. For example in the Bulengo displacement camp and other nearby sites an average of 70 sexual assault victims a day visit clinics run by Doctors Without Borders.
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