In Congo, hunger, malnutrition affect 15 million people
NEWS DIGEST–Fifteen million people in Congo suffered hunger strike, double the amount that faced hunger last year, the Norwegian Refugee Council said on Tuesday.
Some Congolese are joining armed groups or going into prostitution in order to buy food, the organisation said.
“We are witnessing emergency levels of hunger and malnutrition in every town and village where we respond,” Ulrika Blom, NRC Country Director said.
The group said that intensified violence across parts of eastern Congo where numerous militia groups were fighting, mainly over lucrative mineral resources – means many farmers were afraid to work in their fields.
The NGO said that staple foods like maize, cassava and rice had seen an average decline of 39 per cent in production levels compared to the previous season.
About 40 per cent of children under five were suffering from malnutrition, the group said, adding that some children hade been taken out of school to work in the country’s dangerous mines to earn money.
There is also a huge displacement crisis. Heavy fighting in the north-eastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri saw 750,000 people flee their homes in the first eight months of 2018.
“The new figures on food insecurity in DR Congo are incredibly alarming,” Blom said. (dpa/NAN)
