Rich countries ignoring Congo crisis, Oxfam says

Red Cross workers unload a boat last Tuesday in Kilumbe in the Democratic Republic of Congo's northern Katanga Province. The aid was destined for returning families who were displaced during fighting between Mai Mai rebels and the Congolese Army. PHOTO: AFP

Developed nations are turning a blind eye to the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo and have committed "nothing or almost nothing" to the relief effort there, Oxfam said yesterday.

International donors have pledged only US$94 million or 14 percent of the US$682 million needed for the Humanitarian Action Plan developed by the UN, Red Cross and aid agencies and launched in February, it claimed.

In the last three months, the UK-based NGO said an estimated 100,000 people have died from "conflicted-related causes."

Oxfam singled out the US and Japan for making "miniscule commitments relative to the size of their economies"; France and Germany for making "small commitments"; and Italy for pledging nothing at all.

The troubled central African state is due to hold its first multi-party elections in 40 years on July 30.

"Donors have rightly invested over US$450 million in support of the elections, but voting alone won't cure the problems in DRC," Oxfam's Juliette Prodhan said.

"Significant humanitarian assistance is urgently needed in order to save lives. Rich country governments have a moral obligation to act when 1,200 people are dying every day from conflict-related causes," she said.

Oxfam said the response from countries like Finland, Sweden and Canada, "who usually set the example," had been disappointing and also said New Zealand, Australia and Spain, who have not given to DRC in the past, should donate.

Countries that have pledged humanitarian funds should now make them available for implementation as soon as possible, it added.

"The stark reality is that humanitarian needs in DRC are receiving one-sixtieth of what was contributed to alleviate suffering after the 2004 [Indian Ocean] tsunami," Prodhan said.

"Every penny that went to the tsunami relief was appropriate given the scale of the disaster. But it goes to show just how much the DRC is being neglected," she said.

Oxfam says that whereas a UN appeal for the victims of the tsunami had raised US$550 for every person in need, the humanitarian action plan for the Congo had raised just US$9.40 per person for the next year.

A five-year war in Congo, which sucked in neighboring countries, officially ended in 2003 with a deal enforced by UN peacekeepers, but fighting by rebels and renegade militias has raged on in the violence-prone east.

"Democratic Republic of Congo remains one of the world's forgotten disaster zones with an estimated 3.9 million people that have died as a result of the conflict in the past 8 years," Oxfam said.