The non-governmental organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has warned this Thursday of the worsening of the “increasingly critical” humanitarian situation in the province of Ituri, in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and has asked the international community to take urgent measures to “help them lay the foundations for a peaceful future. “We cannot afford to ignore the deteriorating conflict in Ituri. The lack of international attention beyond the crisis in North Kivu and the growing breakdown of relations between local communities throughout Ituri demand immediate action,” warned the director of the NRC in DRC, Eric Batonon, who has called for “providing more humanitarian aid while promoting dialogue and reconciliation at the local level.” The NGO has regretted in a statement issued this Thursday that the international community has focused on the worsening of the situation in Goma and its surroundings, in the province of North Kivu, and is “overlooking time and again the conflict in neighboring Ituri”, where “increased violence between communities has accelerated the breakdown of social cohesion” and “repeated attacks have forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes since February 2024”. The number of violent attacks in Ituri, the NRC has noted, has continued to increase in the last six months, with almost 200 attacks since the beginning of the year, a circumstance that has led to the local population being unable to work their land for fear of attacks or reprisals and cannot support their families. “A VICIOUS AND DANGEROUS CIRCLE” Thus, the communities in the areas most affected by the intense violence are moving towards small areas considered stable for the moment. There, “both displaced people and the communities that host them are forced to compete for already limited food, jobs and land, while international aid remains insufficient,” the note explains. The increase in tensions, added to the scarcity of resources and aid, have given rise to “a vicious and dangerous circle” in Ituri that is being felt “cross-cuttingly” at all levels. Addressing the crisis in the province, the Norwegian Refugee Council has added, “requires a comprehensive response that has sufficient resources and responds to immediate needs, while building lasting solutions for those affected.” “We must help communities rebuild trust and relationships to avoid even more conflict in the future. Improving the humanitarian crisis will require building peaceful solutions from the bottom up. This can be achieved by strengthening support for conflict transformation and social cohesion initiatives in Ituri,” said Batonon.
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